This is because the heart of China's pharmaceutical industry is based on copying other products. In an interview included in the Zhengquan Shibao report, Dr. Pan Aihua, General Manager of the Shenzhen-based Kexing Biotech Products, Ltd. stated that 90 percent of bioengineering products in China are no more than copies of foreign products. 99 percent of the 3,000 varieties of medicines made in China since the 1950s are imitations. Also, of 873 varieties of medicines produced in China in recent years, 97.4 percent of these are imitations. The main reasons that developing countries, including China, produce these imitations are these nations' backward technology, their inability to carry out research and development, and their shortage of funds.
Pharmaceuticals are easy to duplicate.
Once a new medicine's chemical composition and method of production become publicly available, that medicine is likely to be imitated within a very short period of time and become available on the market at rather low prices. At present, the average amount of time required internationally to produce a new medicine is 10 to 15 years. This immense sum, however, is far higher than what China's pharmaceutical enterprises can bear. China's entering the WTO means that China's pharmaceutical companies must put an end to their practice of copying. But, this does not mean that Chinese pharmaceutical companies can under no circumstances imitate a drug.