Think Drugs Are Expensive in the U.S.? Just Try China
Beijing will want pharma companies to share the pain of the country’s growing healthcare costs.
Pill popping.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergFor a country whose GDP per capita is only 15 percent that of the U.S., consumers in China are paying remarkably high drug prices.
The U.S. isn’t famed for its low-cost pharmaceuticals — but prices of generics are on average only 55 percent of those in China, according to a recent Credit Suisse Group AG report. For instance, Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co.’s Docetaxel, a chemotherapy medication that treats a number of cancers, costs one-third less in the U.S. Or consider Levamlodipine, a cardiovascular drug. If CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. charged prices similar to those prevailing in the U.S., it would see 5 percent of its annual revenue gone.