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Is Now The Time To Build In China?

Deciding whether to build or rent development and commercial capabilities in China requires a deep understanding of the changing Chinese market. Individual product characteristics, and a management team’s tolerance for risk, should be used to determine which model can deliver the best results.

China map

China’s pharmaceutical market has grown from $25bn in 2000 to $180bn in 2020, a magnitude and velocity of growth unparalleled in pharmaceutical history. Today, China market strategy is on the board of directors’ agenda at every biotech and pharma company. The question is not whether to go to China, but how? How to balance the opportunities and risks? How big is the real opportunity and is it sustainable? And should we build in China or rent local capabilities to realize that opportunity? 

Written by:
Paul Zhang, partner
Cherry Moldovan, senior consultant
Eunice Luo, senior consultant
Emily Zhao, senior consultant
Bluestar BioAdvisors LLC

To this critical question, history in the last twenty years has been clear: fully integrated pharmaceutical companies have been building in China while R&D stage biotechnology companies have been renting....

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