With optimism and energy pervading the Chinese healthcare landscape, actors of all stripes see new potential and opportunities on the horizon. The heterogeneity of the Chinese market, with its 31 province-level entities offering a variety of market characteristics and needs; the waves of overseas returnees repatriating decades of experience in top pharma companies and biotechs, known as the so-called ‘sea turtles’; the budding capital markets unfurling their increasing interest in the sector; and the most pro-innovation regulatory environment the industry has seen practically since inception – all have coalesced into a veritable playground for the next generation of global pharma and biotech giants.

All of them, and the network of service providers that surround them, see in China’s vast market not only bountiful opportunities to serve patient needs and so doing, reap rewards, but also an unparalleled platform to test new models of innovation, operational excellence, and service delivery.