Big Pharma Bets Big on China

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(The Wall Street Journal) — Global pharmaceutical companies are bucking one of the big-gest trends in business right now: they are still betting on China at a time when many mul-tinationals are shifting their focus elsewhere.

Western drug companies including and AstraZeneca have recently said they are commit-ted to helping China solve the challenges posed by its aging population and have struck multimillion-dollar licensing deals with local companies.

Their moves signal the staying power of the Chinese market despite the risk of being caught by rising Sino-U.S. tensions and a push in Washington and European capitals to re-duce reliance on China.

Driving demand in China is the rapidly rising share of the population who are living long-er with chronic lifestyle diseases, and a wealthier middle class that cares more about health. Beijing has vowed to improve the quality of public healthcare and extend basic in-surance that covers more than 95% of the population.