China to become world's largest OTC market

Updated: 2005-12-02 09:15

China will become the world's largest OTC (Over the Counter medicine) market by the middle of the century, said experts at the ongoing 2005 China OTC Consumer Healthcare Summit here Thursday.

"With its robust growth, China is going to be the largest OTC market in the world by mid-21st century," Nicholas Hall, CEO of Nicholas Hall & Company (NHC), one of the world's leading consultancies in the OTC market, made the remarks in the southwest municipality of Chongqing.

Statistics from NHC have shown that the China's OTC market ranks the fourth largest in 2005, with a total asset of 4.2 billion US dollars, only after the United States, Japan and Germany.

However, the growth rate of China's OTC market has reached 11.2 percent this year, much faster than that of the countries with bigger OTC markets.

"Actually Japan, Germany and France have all registered negative growth rate in 2005. China is expected to rank the third largest in five years and the second in ten years," said Nicholas Hall.

According to Chris Snook, President of Novartis OTC in the Asia Pacific region, local companies have bright future in market expansion, whose growth relies largely on the vast rural market.

However, Chris also suggested that in order to maintain sustainable development, domestic companies should multiply their product lines.

Novartis OTC is one of the largest OTC drug manufacturers in the world.

The summit is held on the sideline of the 54th China National Pharmaceuticals Fair, which runs from December 1 to 3, with wide participation of drug producers both at home and from aboard. Enditem