Results Round-Up: Big Pharma Grapples With China Slowdown

If there was one overall signal to come out of multinationals’ second quarter results, it was that China can no longer be relied upon to be the major driver of growth in emerging markets that it once was, as sales increases are slowing as a result of cost control policies and generic competition. But while several firms’ growth in this market fell into single digits in the quarter, the longer term prospects are still seen as positive given strong underlying fundamentals.