The market for multinational medical device companies in China has largely been driven by use only in major public hospitals for patients who pay mostly or entirely out-of-pocket. But that’s continuing to change in ways that could offer a window onto medical device trends in the region over the coming decades.
BEIJING – China will kickstart a phase III trial Feb. 3 to determine whether patients with 2019-nCoV can be treated with Gilead Sciences Inc.’s NUC inhibitor, remdesivir, which was originally developed for Ebola, four days after a U.S. patient was said to have recovered by using the drug candidate.
BEIJING – Chinese regulators are speeding up to approve more test kits for the deadly coronavirus that already has killed 170 people and infected more than 7,700 globally. Companies also are working around the clock to develop better products and maintain supplies.
HONG KONG – As drug developers are racing to find a cure for the new coronavirus, researchers in Hong Kong claim to have made major headway in the development of a vaccine for the virus that has so far killed 132. Yuen Kwok-yung, the chair of infectious diseases at the University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) department of microbiology, said in a press briefing at Hong Kong’s Queen Mary Hospital that his team had successfully isolated the novel virus from the first imported case in Hong Kong. But he said the vaccine still needs months to be tested on animals and an additional year for human trials before it is fit for use.
HONG KONG and BEIJING – Not just multinational players but domestic Chinese pharmaceutical companies are poised to benefit from China’s promise under a phase one trade deal with the U.S. to better protect intellectual property (IP), even if question marks remain around how the deal will be enforced. The move is in line with China's ambition to strengthen IP rights protection and upgrade the approach to innovation of its pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
LONDON – After a second day of deliberation, the World Health Organization (WHO) held off declaring that the novel coronavirus infection raging in Wuhan is an international health emergency, saying the low number of cases outside China means it is not time to escalate the response to this level.
LONDON – After a second day of deliberation, the World Health Organization (WHO) held off declaring that the novel coronavirus infection raging in Wuhan is an international health emergency, saying the low number of cases outside China means it is not time to escalate the response to this level.
Time will tell whether what the Trump administration is calling a “historic” and “landmark” trade agreement with China will better enable drug and device companies to more fairly compete in the Chinese market without having to sacrifice their intellectual property (IP) and technology.
China announced Jan. 17 which further pharmaceutical companies it will buy from under its centralized procurement program that seeks the lowest prices. The price war has forced foreign players to revalue the Chinese market and prompted Chinese players to come up with survival strategies under a policy that aims to consolidate the industry.