The Bangalore-based biotech firm Biocon is gearing up to enter Chinese market with its range of biopharmaceuticals, including Insugen the recombinant insulin and BioMab EGFR for head and neck cancer. The company is also keen to tap the Chinese pharma market with its range of formulation in the diabetic and cardiovascular segment.

While China is known for its strengths in the production of active pharma ingredients, it is not adept in formulation development. The growing number of disorders in the world's largest populous country makes it an important market for many formulation makers from India.

"We have developed a strategy and are in the process of understanding and getting familiar with the regulatory processes in China. The realisation of per dosage cost in the formulation is higher in China, compared to India and therefore Biocon intends to capitalise on this and offer its range. The Chinese pharma market is growing at 13 per cent annually," said, Rakesh Bamzai, president, marketing, Biocon Ltd.

The company is making a modest entry into the region by understanding the regulatory framework, which is tough, slow and unclear. Also, documentation, which is presented in English in all global markets, needs translation in Chinese. All these act as a major challenge before us among the other issues of marketing in China, which include exorbitant registration fee per drug, he added.

Commenting on the Chinese advantage in the area of active pharma ingredients, Bamzai said that although manufacturing and research and development capability in terms of volumes and economies of scale are there, the country is not that attractive these days. The Yuan and the RMB are appreciating against the dollar. Although the divide between India and China is the pace of growth in terms of real costs, there will be lesser competition for India from China. The dragon land's high volume is not coming in with the required quality, which is posing as a big issue to compete.