There’s an excellent health care blog I just discovered, at AsiaHealthCareBlog.com. Their posts on the public health aspects of China are very well thought out, with good research to back it up.
A couple weeks ago, they wrote about the state of pharmacies in China (link is below). As I mentioned before, China has yet to build up the private, very consumer friendly Walgreens-style pharmacies — but that may soon change. The key will be China’s implementation of a national formulary (you can download the PDF file here). This formulary will lead to more organized distribution channels, and consolidate drug makers into a few regional and national players. Long term, this would presumably make for a stable national supply network that a national private drugstore chain could finally see as dependable and cheap enough to make this business thrive.
Article: China’s Essential Drug List prompts Rise of Retail Drug Stores « Asia Health Care Blog.
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