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Leveraging China's potential

By Hank A. McKinnell (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-26 08:32

Some believe that stronger patent protection and significant premiums for innovative products would put medicines out of reach of the hundreds of millions of China's citizens who need more access today.

Again, and this is counter-intuitive, our experience shows the opposite to be more true.

A system balancing exclusivity with generic access and depending on the free market to establish pricing adds, over time, numerous new medicines to the public domain. Such a system also puts pressure on research-based pharmaceutical companies to innovate.

Now, let me talk about the long-term benefit in streamlining the regulatory process in China.

China has made great strides in defining a transparent and consistent regulatory process when it comes to the approval of new medicines.

I believe there is room for streamlining both the approval and registration process and, along with it, the process for reimbursement. With so many new medicines entering the market every year, authorities need to ensure that patients have access to the newest medicines possible.

Vast potential

I have tried to focus on how China can unleash the vast potential of its life-science skills. Ultimately, the path China will take in life sciences hinges on the vision the nation has for pharmaceutical and biotechnology research.

By 2010, China will be a top-five pharmaceutical market. By 2050, this nation is projected by some to be the world's largest market for pharmaceuticals. The question is: Can China become not just the world's largest consumer of medicines, but also, its pre-eminent power in medical innovation?

I believe it can, and to get there, China can begin, now, to unleash the full potential of its fragmented pharmaceutical and biotech sector. I believe that the small pharmaceutical and biotech companies that now pack into China's research parks don't want to stay small forever. They want to "grow up" and become major players in what is clearly an industry of the future.

For Pfizer, and for all innovative healthcare companies, an environment of strong competition and a level playing field for all competitors will be best for everyone  starting with patients.

As China has shown the world so clearly, competition drives innovation  and for patients awaiting new cures  there can never be enough innovation.

It is in everyone's interest to see a vibrant research-based pharmaceutical industry take shape in China  and to build this industry into one of the drivers of this nation's innovation society.

I look forward to the day when many new medicines will come stamped, "Discovered in China." That day will be a bright one both for China and for patients, everywhere.

The article is an excerpt from a speech delivered by Dr Hank A. McKinnell, Jr, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer Inc, during his visit to
Shanghai on July 21.