Foreign pharma firms upbeat on China

Efforts to build comprehensive infrastructure for healthcare create new opportunities

For multinational corporations, China has become the look-to market turbocharging global growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the medical sector, such a phenomenon has shown particular momentum.

The country's organic market growth is whetting the appetites of foreign healthcare players vying for a slice of the pie.

A case in point is Siemens Healthineers, a German medical technology giant, which saw first quarter growth in China jump 25 percent year-on-year.

"We had a very good start into the year with strong growth coming from China," said Elisabeth Staudinger, Asia-Pacific president of Siemens Healthineers.

The company recently raised growth guidance from 5-8 percent to 8-12 percent for 2021, as China is expected to be one of the "main pulls" amid medical imaging equipment demand such as for X-ray machines and MRI scanners.

"This is also very clearly connected to establishing fever clinics and the (country's) continued push to build a more comprehensive infrastructure for healthcare not only in big cities but in remote, provincial areas," Staudinger said.

For medical device maker Boston Scientific, China－currently trailing Japan－is ready to return to high double-digit growth this year and become the largest overseas market in five years after its home market of the United States.