SHANGHAI - China's drug distribution market and retail pharmacy revenue reached RMB 708 billion ($110.9 billion) in 2010, a 24.6% increase from 2009, and the top three drug distributors' market share increased by 5.8% to 26.7% through aggressive acquisitions to expand their distribution networks, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

SHANGHAI - China's largest drug distributor Sinopharm Group Co. Ltd. April 25 placed a secondary offering of roughly 138 million H shares in Hong Kong looking to raise HK$3.4 billion ($440 million) to fund more acquisitions. The move comes just ahead of the initial public offering in Hong Kong of Sinopharm's biggest competitor Shanghai Pharmaceutical Holdings Co. Ltd, and will add more heat to the consolidation war in China's distribution sector

China's State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) is drafting a new regulation on "service innovation" to encourage companies and researchers in the country to raise their investment in, and the conduct of, innovation. However, the move may also have an impact on the soaring drug discovery industry in China as it will mean higher payments to inventors with knock-on effects on local drug discovery and CROs.