Health & Beauty

Currently, the risk of global economic recession is increasing, the growth of external demand is significantly slowing down, the international supply chain pattern is accelerating reconstruction, and the environment for foreign trade development is severe. The field of pharmaceutical foreign trade will also be affected by the complex external environment and face more intense market competition under localized production from multiple countries around the world. In 2023, China's pharmaceutical foreign trade will move forward amidst challenges and opportunities.

Smooth international exchanges bring vitality to recovery and growth

In 2023, the "going out" of enterprises will become more smooth. Since the beginning of the new year, overseas medical and health exhibitions have been highly favored by Chinese enterprises. Governments from various regions have organized multiple batches of enterprises to participate in exhibitions in Europe, the Americas, Southeast Asia, and other places. Various chambers of commerce and associations, including the China Chamber of Commerce for International Trade in Medical and Health Products, have also taken action to help enterprises go abroad for business exchanges, injecting a boost into the better development of pharmaceutical foreign trade. In addition, international exhibitions held in China, such as the World Pharmaceutical Raw Materials China Exhibition and the Canton Fair, will resume in succession. These favorable factors will also promote the better development of pharmaceutical foreign trade.

Improving the Policy System and Stimulating the Creativity of International Trade Entities

In the field of industry, the "14th Five Year Plan for the Development of the Pharmaceutical Industry" clearly states that "comprehensive acceleration of international development" is one of the important development goals. The internationalization of China's pharmaceutical supervision is also constantly deepening. In 2017, China's pharmaceutical regulatory department joined the International Committee for the Coordination of Human Drug Registration Technology (ICH); In September 2021, the State Food and Drug Administration launched the pre accession application for the Drug Inspection Cooperation Program (PIC/S); In August 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that China passed the National Vaccine Regulatory System (NRA) assessment. These will promote China's pharmaceutical industry to further align with international standards and enhance the level of international development.

In the field of foreign trade, in May 2022, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Stability and Quality Improvement of Foreign Trade", further helping international trade enterprises seize orders and expand the market, and supporting pharmaceutical enterprises to register and certify Chinese and Western medicine formulations and biological products in countries or regions where ICH, PIC/S members are located, and WHO. In the fourth quarter of last year, six departments including the Ministry of Commerce specifically introduced policies and measures to smooth the channels for foreign trade enterprises to seize orders, and various regions actively supported foreign trade enterprises to form groups to go overseas. On December 30, 2022, the 38th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress passed the decision on amending the Foreign Trade Law, deleting the provisions on the registration of foreign trade operators in Article 9 of the Foreign Trade Law of the China. Cancelling registration will be beneficial for further optimizing the business environment, unleashing the vitality of foreign trade innovation, and promoting high-quality trade development and high-level opening up to the outside world.

Ten years of the "the Belt and Road" initiative "starting again"

The year 2023 marks the tenth anniversary of the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" initiative. Over the past decade, China and the countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road" have continuously improved the multilateral, bilateral and regional cooperation mechanisms, and made efforts to deepen international trade and economic cooperation. Pharmaceutical trade has developed steadily.

Countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road" are dominated by emerging markets, with a huge population base and market capacity. The pharmaceutical industry is relatively weak, providing many opportunities for cooperation in the medical and health field. Many domestic pharmaceutical enterprises have worked in the "the Belt and Road" market for many years and achieved excellent results.

From 2019 to 2021, North China Pharmaceutical Group's sales covered 32 countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road" and obtained 328 registration certificates. The biological agent erythropoietin (EPO) successfully entered the Indonesian market. Strong varieties of antibiotics and vitamins were in great demand in the African market, and Africa became the region with the highest sales coverage and the largest product registration of North China Pharmaceutical Group; Green Leaf Pharmaceuticals has achieved commercial coverage in high potential emerging markets such as Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe through the use of the central nervous system drug Siruikang and its sustained-release tablets; Junshi Biological has granted Hikma Company an exclusive license to develop and commercialize Treprizumab injection in 20 countries and regions in the Middle East and North Africa, including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Morocco, Egypt, etc., to expand domestic innovative drugs into emerging international trade markets; Neusoft Healthcare provides comprehensive medical diagnosis services for countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road", such as setting up a subsidiary in Dubai, providing hundreds of large-scale medical equipment, and services covering Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, etc.

Continuous release of RCEP dividends

Since its implementation on January 1, 2022, RCEP has brought tangible growth and benefits to member states and their enterprises through institutional dividends such as tariff concessions, rules of origin accumulation, and trade facilitation.

Affected by favorable factors such as the implementation of RCEP, many representative projects of Chinese pharmaceutical companies have been launched in 2022. For example, CanSino Biologics, Watson Biology, Suzhou Ibo Biology signed an agreement with PT Etana Biotechnology Indonesia, an Indonesian biopharmaceutical company, to carry out joint development and commercial cooperation on innovative vaccine products such as tuberculosis vaccine, meningitis vaccine, HPV2 vaccine and mRNA therapy research and development; WuXi AppTec plans to invest US $1.43 billion in Singapore to establish R&D and production bases, and expand its overseas CRDMO (contract research, development and production) and CTDMO (contract testing, R&D and production) business models; Kexing Group has invested 10 billion yuan in Singapore, carrying out multiple projects including opening laboratories and collaborating with other local laboratories, specializing in researching new pathogens and researching solutions. (Translated from: China Medical News)