As the People's Republic of China celebrates the 70th birthday of its foundation and President Xi Jinping vows to strengthen communist rule, many are worrying that any increased dominance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) will put international companies at a disadvantage, just at the time the government is expanding centralized procurement schemes to more health products.
'Buy China' In Procurement Schemes - Should You Worry?
A recent trade group report points to a rising and alarming "Buy China" trend in procurement rounds in the country. Although largely in medical device bidding, it may potentially affect the pharma sector, an analysis from the recent “4+7” centralized bidding scheme show.

More from China
RemeGen is planning to complete enrolment in the global Phase III RemeMG study with telitacicept in generalized myasthenia gravis by the end of 2025 or early 2026. The Chinese firm has already sidelined two other global Phase III trials with the molecule to prioritize the indication.
UK pharma will invest $2.5bn in Beijing R&D hub, build a vaccine manufacturing site with BioKangtai, and partner in chronic disease with Syneron and in oncology/immunology with Harbour BioMed.
While diverging from partner Merck & Co. in its study dosage of sacituzumab tirumotecan, Kelun has garnered the world’s first approval, in China, for a TROP2-targeting antibody-drug conjugate, for the treatment of lung cancer.
Chinese biotech TYK Medicines says its EGFR inhibitor outperformed AstraZeneca’s same-class blockbuster Tagrisso in a pivotal Phase II trial for first-line use in brain metastases resulting from EGFR mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer.
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Heads of Novartis Biomedical, World Economic Forum and Indian majors like Sun Pharma’s SPARC, among others, discuss generative AI in drug discovery along with pointers for India to leapfrog the R&D process
Lilly’s Mounjaro arrives in India, with the 2.5mg vial priced at under $41 in a market that has over 100 million diabetics and increasing obesity rates. Will the product see sharp demand like in China, carving out a chunk of the pie ahead of the potential arrival of semaglutide generics and could there be concerns of ‘suitcase' exports?
South Korea's LigaChem is kickstarting a growth and globalization drive through a potential future acquisition of UK ADC player IKSUDA.