Foreign interest grows in aging society

Liu Zhanglin has been working in China's pharmaceutical industry - especially the consumer healthcare and traditional Chinese medicine segments - for nearly three decades.

The industry veteran forecasts the nation's consumer healthcare sector will grow at a steady 10 percent over the next three to five years.

Bruce Liu, a strategy consultant with equally rich experience in the international pharmaceutical industry, is even more optimistic.

He suggests that by 2015, the sector will be worth more than 100 billion yuan ($16.01 billion) from its current 60 billion yuan, and will be growing at around 20 percent annually.

But both professionals share one view - that the sector is likely to become one of China's most lucrative.

Liu Zhanglin, vice-president of China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicines & Health Products, is slightly more conservative with his growth forecasts, but predicts the sector will accelerate at a higher rate than the nation's GDP growth, given the country's aging population.

Bruce Liu, a partner and co-head of the pharma and healthcare practice at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, said one of the most striking aspects of China's fast-growing consumer healthcare sector is the number of multinational pharmaceutical companies competing in an attempt to cash in on market.