The Weekly News Update is a weekly roundup of business news from around the Asia-Pacific region, covering Fusion Consulting's core industry practices: chemicals, consumer & retail, financial services, industrial & logistics, information & communication technology, life science and media & leisure. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.  Life science

China - Health care reform provides opportunities for American companies Source: Associated Press, 25 April 2008 As China looks toward revamping a health care system that currently has hundreds of millions of uninsured citizens, American businesses have the chance to be involved through selling medicine, health services, and health insurance. It is noted that China spent US$9 billion on health care in 2007, and that figure is expected to increase to US$12 billion this year. There has been an "explosion" in the growth of pharmaceutical exports to China - about 300% since 2003. Medical devices, which include everything from orthopedic braces to pacemakers, saw 20% growth in the past year alone. However, barriers remain for American companies coming into China, such as prohibitive tariffs on pharmaceuticals and medical devices, lengthy times to register products, and redundant testing for medical products. India - CordLife gets licence for lab Source: Business Times, 26 Apr 2008 After waiting for more than two years, tissue banking firm CordLife has finally received the green light to start its services in India, where it has opened a laboratory in Kolkata, the capital of the eastern state of West Bengal. The 30,000-sq-ft cord blood banking facility opened last week, after the company was granted a licence by India's drug regulatory authorities to operate a tissue-processing and storage lab. India has a projected annual birth rate of 24 million, one of the highest in the world, and a burgeoning upper middle class. The Kolkata cord blood bank has a storage capacity of more than 40,000 samples, scalable up to 150,000. It is also the first and only cord blood bank in eastern India, where 5.8 million births occur a year, including an estimated 1.8 million babies delivered annually in West Bengal alone. India - Pharmacy chains on oxygen Source: Business Standard, 28 April 2008   In the Indian pharmaceutical indsutry, it is clear that the big players are close to biting dust. At least two large pharmacy chains are up for sale, industry sources said. Some others have shaken up their top management, while a few have cut back on their expansions. One is trying to rediscover its business model by looking at rural markets. And all are woefully short of achieving the targets they had set. These chains put a large part of the blame on soaring real estate prices. The other factor is the lack of qualified pharmacists to run their shops. Under law, pharmacists alone can sell drugs. And, in the last two years, their salaries have shot up by over 200%.     View an example of our experience in this industry. Back to list of articles.  Visit our new website to sign up for free intelligence on Asian markets.

This Weekly News Update is a free newsletter, providing a round-up of the week's Asia-Pacific news from our core industry practices. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.

Fusion Consulting is a business intelligence consultancy providing clear strategic advice on Asia-Pacific markets. With offices in Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong and 400 industry consultants in 16 countries, we conduct custom research and consulting to help companies understand their markets, compete more effectively and grow into new areas of opportunity. Email more@fusionc.com or visit www.fusionc.com for more information.