Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-10-15
A pharmacy in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, April 11. (File photo/CNS) |
E-commerce
operators in China are setting their sights on the huge prescription medicine
market, estimated to be worth 300 billion yuan (US$49 billion) a year and which
is scheduled to be opened up in early 2015 at the latest, according to
Guangzhou's Time Weekly.
The market
opening has been made possible thanks to draft measures governing the online
sale of food and medicine issued by the China Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) in May. The measures explicitly point to an opening up of the online sale
of prescription medicine and permission for pharmacies to apply for licenses
for online sales.
E-commerce
operators are gearing up to tap the huge business opportunities, including
Yihaodian, which has obtained approval from the FDA for online retail of drugs,
and hopes to expand into prescription drugs. E-commerce giants Jingdong Mall
and Tmall are also preparing to sell prescription drugs online and are
currently awaiting approval from the FDA.
"The
approval for the online sale of over-the-counter medicine is but a prelude to
the online prescription medicine business, as the latter is where the market
potential really lies," said Peng Shugang, superintendent for external
affairs at Yihaodian, adding that safety and control is critical for the
latter.
E-commerce
operators are upbeat about the liberalization of online prescription drug
sales, estimating the market potential at 300 billion yuan a year, or 30% of
the overall market, the paper said.
Yihaodian
is also exploring the possibilities of partnering with hospitals.
Tmall
expects the opening of the prescription drug market will give a strong boost to
its existing online medicine sales, which topped 2 billion yuan (US$326
million) from 120 online pharmacies on its platform in 2013.
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