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Growth of the Asian health-care market: global implications for the pharmaceutical industry

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery volume 6, pages 785–792 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The global economy is being transformed by an explosion of information unleashed by the internet, the digital revolution, communications and increased international mobility. This transformation is manifesting in many ways, including rapid development of countries such as China, commoditization of public services, mobilization of workforces, shifting of market control from suppliers to consumers, interlinked rises in product demand and customer expectations, and problems regulating international business competition. As Asia is home to half of the world's population, and offers both a large relatively low-cost workforce in some countries and a potentially huge retail market, this region could be central to the future of the global economy. Like other industries, the pharmaceutical industry faces a new array of Asia-specific opportunities and challenges. Success in meeting these challenges will go to those pharmaceutical companies that best understand the unique strengths and constraints of Asia's diverse cultures, talents and markets.

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Figure 1: Comparison of developed and developing Asian health-care systems.
Figure 2: Transformation of the pharmaceutical value chain over time.
Figure 3: Factors increasing public accessibility of medications over the last two decades.
Figure 4: Predicted changes in supply and demand affecting new drugs and older off-patent drugs.
Figure 5: Model of the combined future impact of globalization and digitization on the pharmaceutical industry.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to B. S. Mann of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA, Rockville, Maryland, USA, for appraisal of the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Medicine, Richard J. Epstein is at Room 802 Administration Block, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam, Hong Kong. repstein@hku.hk,

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Epstein, R. Growth of the Asian health-care market: global implications for the pharmaceutical industry. Nat Rev Drug Discov 6, 785–792 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd2360

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