The cancer rate in China is very high, partly because of an aging population. The country has around 3 million new cases each year, according to the World Health Organization. However, many brand-name drugs are not accessible for most Chinese. The price of foreign drug manufacturers treatments are among the highest in the world.
The Chinese will therefore source many treatments in Hong Kong, including anti-cancer drug Herceptin manufactured by Roche laboratory and treatment against hepatitis C Sovaldi from Gilead Sciences. They are available at more attractive prices (-30%). Sold with no prescription, visitors from the mainland prefer to buy their medicines in Hong Kong thinking – often wrongly – they are less likely to be counterfeit.
Source: Bloomberg