A Promising Future Rooted in Innovation——Thermo Fisher

China's Life Science sector is expected to maintain a strong growth rate during China's 13th Five-Year Plan period. Driving clinical innovation while managing cost is the key challenge of both policy makers and market players. How to adapt the facts include changing demographic trends, consumption upgrade, overcapacity and the lack of IP protection in China is a major task that life science companies need to accomplish.

This is the second in a series of interviews from Deloitte on China’s ongoing structural adjustment. These articles provide a `bottom-up‘ perspective from industry captains and offer important insights for foreign as well as local companies that want to understand China’s unique marketplace.

China’s health care sector is attracting increasing attention. Having grown at an astonishing rate of 9.6 percent in 2016 and projected to maintain double-digit growth for the next few years, it will undoubtedly be among the world’s most attractive markets for the health care industry. Changing demographic trends and a more health conscious consumer base will underpin the sector’s growth but challenges remain. The Chinese health care market – characterized by extraordinary entrepreneurship, favorable government policies and insufficient IP rights – is continuously attracting new local players. What companies need to be aware of is that within certain promising sectors in China a «lack of supply» can quickly turn into «overcapacity» – as has been the case several times in the past. Moreover, policy makers’ current concerns, i.e. «managing costs» and «driving clinical innovation», is something market leaders need to adapt to Mr. Gianluca Pettiti, President of Thermo Fisher Scientific China, the world leader in serving science, shares his insights and experiences with Xu Sitao, Chief Economist, Deloitte China.

Sitao Xu
Deloitte China Chief Economist | Deloitte China Partner

Keyu Liu
Deloitte Research Life Science & Healthcare Industry Researcher