China to Crack Down on Drug Companies

Chinese regulators will crack down on corruption and unfair competition in the pharmaceutical sector, its government has announced.

The newly created State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said it will spend the next five months rooting out anticompetitive conduct and commercial bribery among drug, medical device and education companies, according to attorneys at Allen & Overy.

China recently overhauled its civil code and the SAMR announcement “likely signals that China is gearing up its enforcement efforts and looking into those industries that are most prone to corruption risk, particularly the pharmaceutical industry,” the attorneys concluded in a blog post.