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BIZCHINA / Overseas Investment
Bayer anticipates high-speed growth after merger
By Liu Baijia (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-21 11:25
Bayer Schering Pharmaceuticals China expects to maintain growth of over
30 percent in the market, as the merger of the healthcare units of Bayer
and Schering nears completion.
Liam Condon, managing director of Bayer Healthcare China and chief of
Bayer Schering Pharmaceuticals China, said Bayer Schering saw growth of
about 50 percent in 2005 and is targeting a further 30 to 50 percent this
year.
The company booked sales of 1.8 billion yuan last year, and is one of the
fastest growing foreign drug makers.
"Our business scale (this year) will be much larger than last year's for
sure," said Condon.
China's pharmaceutical market will grow by 14.4 percent this year on
2006, according to US healthcare industry research company IMS Health.
Bayer and Schering were both ranked about 10th among foreign
pharmaceutical firms in China in 2005. The merger took the company into
the top four.
Bayer took 88 percent of German drugmaker Schering last year to become
the seventh-biggest specialty drug maker in the world.
Condon said it had wrapped up registration of the new legal entities in
China earlier this month.
Bayer said earlier it would shed 6,100 jobs from its healthcare unit as a
result of the merger. But Condon said it would instead add 500 jobs to
the existing 2,000.
It has also spent 200 million yuan ($26 million) to double the capacity
of its Beijing factory, which should be ready by early 2008.
The Chinese pharmaceutical market is shifting focus from antibiotics to
treatment for cancers, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and
diabetes. Bayer Schering also plans to introduce more of its blockbuster
medicines to the Chinese market.
It will introduce 20 products in five years, including Bayer's top three
blockbusters, which contributed 2.57 billion euros for the company last
year.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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