Japanese pharma executive praises advancement, affordability in China's pharmaceutical evolution

An executive from the Japanese pharmaceutical company Astellas has lauded China's efforts to streamline drug approval, intellectual property (IP) protection and patient access through varied reimbursement avenues within its evolving pharmaceutical landscape.

Astellas has been in the Chinese market for 30 years. The company has focused on expanding Chinese patients' access to its innovative pharmaceutical products and has strengthened partnerships with local companies.

During an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Claus Zieler, Chief Commercial Officer for Astellas, emphasized that China has notably shortened the approval time for medicines and strengthened IP protections.

"There have been many changes in 30 years. Notably, I would say the time it takes to get the approval for medicine in China has shortened. It used to be that clinical trials for China had to be done after approval in other parts of the world. And then you would have essentially a double way of doing clinical trials. It takes a lot of time that has now been shortened considerably. The other notable difference, I would say, is that protection of patents in China has improved. It used to be that foreign companies were sometimes afraid [that] would China have a protection of their intellectual property? That's been a very good trajectory where China has developed significantly in a very positive way," Zieler said.

Zieler noted that China's multifaceted healthcare insurance system, including national, city, and commercial insurance, ensures that a significant portion of the population has access to affordable medications.

"As you may know that the major way of bringing access in China is through the so-called national drug reimbursement list, NRDL, but that's not the only way. Sometimes we have good negotiations with the government on NRDL, sometimes we also have other options in China, such as city insurance or commercial insurance. For instance, in one of our medicines, we have 67 city insurance payers who signed up to reimburse this medicine. So, 80 million people can profit off the benefits of this drug just through this particular insurance scheme," he said.

He reiterated that the pharmaceutical giant is dedicated to establishing significant partnerships throughout the value chain in China.

"The way we do that is by looking for partnerships across the value chain. For instance, we just signed an agreement with Elpiscience recently. That's a more research collaboration, we're also looking for manufacturing collaborations. Sometimes in one case, we have a commercial collaboration. So, it's really when our interests and the partners' interests meet and we have a win-win situation, that's when we partner. And it can be in any of these parts across the value chain," Zieler added.

Japanese pharma executive praises advancement, affordability in China's pharmaceutical evolution

Small- and medium-sized retailers across the United States "are getting hit the hardest" by disrupted supply chains, as U.S. tariff actions fuel market chaos and panic, a U.S. logistics industry insider based in China warned.

Sam Boyd, managing partner at Guided Imports -- a cross-border logistics company serving many American small businesses that rely on Chinese manufacturing -- told China Media Group (CMG) that the tariff policies introduced by the Trump administration have left many importers unsure about how to respond.

"Small- to medium-sized retailers and e-commerce companies, who are usually purchasing their goods close to when they're going out of stock, are getting hit the hardest. It's difficult for businesses to really understand what to do, so most of the businesses are just being forced to wait. And what they've learned over the last two-week period is that these escalations have no ceiling. The majority of our customers have opted to pause their shipments leaving from China. And the downside with this is that they're going to go out of stock," said Boyd.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), container imports to the U.S. are expected to fall by more than 20 percent year over year in the second half of 2025.

Boyd warned that the consequences of paused shipments could extend beyond inventory shortfalls, creating ripple effects that threaten port operations and U.S. domestic logistics.

"But there's an even more significant ripple effect that we're not quite aware of, which is: because so many businesses have chosen to pause their shipments and wait, we're creating a backup -- or a future backup -- that's going to be seen at U.S. ports. So let's say that there is going to be an event that solves this tariffs issue, and it's to everyone's liking enough that they can start placing orders again. By the time they all [those shipments] start arriving at the ports, it's going to create a surge. And this is going to create a surge in shipping costs, and it is going to create a surge in trucking within the U.S.," he said.

Boyd also questioned the U.S. government's repeated calls to bring manufacturing back home, arguing that such efforts are far from realistic given China's deep industrial capacity.

"The concept of reassuring is a very nice concept for those who are many degrees away from manufacturing. But China has so much experience with manufacturing that for any country -- whether it be the United States or one of China's neighbors that try to take over -- it's not going to be something that we can just flip a switch and all of a sudden, you know, a new country becomes the manufacturer," said Boyd.

Small-, medium-sized retailers "hit hardest" by U.S. tariff policy: logistics expert