Chinese Middle Class Shuns Western Drugs In Favor Of Traditional Medicine (China)

Executive Summary

Western drug makers are finding China's middle class a tough sell even though Chinese in that group are fans of U.S. cars and Starbucks. They still confine their drug spending to an average $10 a year, compared with the $900 American average. The Chinese middle class is as large as the entire U.S. population, but drug makers who have invested more than $1 billion in China the past 15 years have had little success in cracking the Chinese preference for traditional local medicine based on ingredients in plants. China also prohibits direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs. (Click here for more