NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, November 21, 2016

Bayer inaugurated the extension program of its pharmaceutical products supply Beijing site over the weekend to provide its supply of prescription drugs for Chinese patients. The extension program, with an investment of 100 million euros ($105.9 million), was signed two years ago when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited China.

The supply site now becomes the largest pharmaceuticals packaging site in the division’s global production network. After the completion of the extension program, the Beijing supply site will double its production capacity, including the products such as Glucobay, Adalat and Bayaspirin.

According to statistics released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission in 2015, more than 260 million people in China are diagnosed as chronic disease patients, with 25.2 percent of those aged 18 and above are suffering from hypertension and 9.7 percent from diabetes.

In 2013, the World Health Organization released a target for 2025, calling on countries and regions around the world to reduce premature deaths from non-communicable diseases by 25 percent. China’s health commission set a target on Friday of reducing premature death from chronic diseases by 10 percent by 2020.