China grants approvals to Gilead’s HIV combo Biktarvy and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma’s Radicava in the latest batch of new product clearances. Meanwhile, a new online database for marketing authorization holders goes live.

While deal-making in the Asian pharma space shows no signs of slowing down, the past few months have been marked by a series of high-profile cases involving the return of rights by licensees or setbacks in clinical trials. Scrip's regional team looks at some of the factors at work.

After only two multinationals managed to win bids in China's massive new centralized drug procurement scheme, other foreign firms were hoping to get a break in the second round. But this may not materialize.

Merck China former R&D head returns after a short stint with startup Ascletis, and Takeda has a new center director for commercial health. Top executives change also take place at Ono in Korea and Simcere Pharma.

Patient-driven drug development meets the old saying of "where there's a will, there's a way" in China, potentially the world's largest market for rare disease treatments.

Many multinationals are banking on novel drug products to capture China’s new growth spurt as it transforms to care centered on innovative therapies, although this could be a hard sell given the largely private pay nature of the market for such products. Q2 China growth at Merck & Co. however flew through the roof with the aid of a suite of newly launched products. So what made it a shining star?