Sanofi-Aventis has sealed a deal with Minsheng Pharmaceutical, based in Hangzhou, China, to set up a joint venture for the production of vitamin and mineral supplements.
The burgeoning OTC market in the country has initiated this joint decision to cater to the Chinese market. In the year 2008, the OTC sales figure in China reached 70 billion yuan ($10 billion ), reports Xinhua. Most of the sales were generated from over-the-counter vitamin and mineral products.
However, Minsheng has been facing tough competition from many foreign pharma companies such as Wyeth, Amway and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Olivier Charmeil, SVP for pharmaceutical operations in Asia/Pacific and Japan at Sanofi-Aventis, has predicted that the Chinese OTC market is likely to become one of the world’s top three OTC markets by 2010.