TSK&F, a major pharmaceutical company, forecast on 21 January its sales of over-the-counter medicines in China will post "explosive" growth in the next decade, as it introduces more drugs tailored to the local market.
"The growth rate will be double the market average by at least 15 percent in the next 10 years," said Danny Ng, general manager of TSK&F, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
TSK&F also announced yesterday that it set up a research and development (R&D) center in China, the fifth of its kind for GSK worldwide. The other four are located in the US, the UK, India and Germany.
TSK&F is a joint venture between GSK and a Tianjin-based pharmaceutical company and was formed in 1987. Over the past two decades, the company launched four over-the-counter brands, including cold-killer Contac and pain reliever Fenbid. Both are popular with Chinese patients, the company said.
Last year, TSK&F's sales hit 1.9 billion yuan, but after the R&D center - called an "innovative center" by GSK - comes on line, "sales of over-the-counter medicines will grow by large margins", said Ng.
The company is planning to peddle more types of drugs in China - including weight loss and smoking cessation - with the help of the the new R&D center.
The company will also expand its consumer healthcare field. "In the long-term, TSK&F will transform into a consumer healthcare-oriented pharmaceutical company," Ng said.
One example of that is the market entry of Sensodyne toothpaste, one of the best-selling products for GSK in China, the company said.
"It sells quite well, and annual growth will exceed 100 percent in the next three years," said Alan Hsu, FMCG business director & marketing director of TSK&F.
