Pharma Made in China: Opportunities and Challenges for the EU Pharmaceutical Industry and Supply Security?

Topic

Around 90% of the medicines classified as critical by the EU are off-patent generics – and their active pharmaceutical ingredients now come predominantly from Asia, especially China. In recent years, China has become a key player in the global pharmaceutical industry: in 2024, China was responsible for approximately 43% of global exports of antibiotic ingredients. While its share in finished pharmaceutical products is still lower, China is also gaining ground in this area, as well as in pharmaceutical research and patenting. These developments raise pressing questions for Europe: How dependent is European healthcare on China? Where are the most critical bottlenecks? And how can Europe strengthen its pharmaceutical resilience – economically, politically, and technologically? 

Program

The event consists of different impulse lectures followed by a discussion.  

The Global China Conversation #44 will be held in German.

Prof. Dr. André Brändli 

André Brändli is Professor of Molecular Pathophysiology at the Walter Brendel Center of Experimental Medicine of the University Hospital and Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. As a biochemist, molecular biologist, and developmental biologist, he has more than 35 years of experience in embryology, kidney development, vascular biology, and drug discovery research. He studied at the Biocenter of the University of Basel and obtained his PhD at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg. He subsequently held research positions at the University of California, San Francisco, Harvard Medical School in Boston, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich. 

His laboratory uses Xenopus embryos to investigate rare inherited diseases and employs them as whole-organism models for the development of high-throughput assays in drug discovery and toxicity testing. This work has led to the identification of patented anti-angiogenic drug candidates and innovative assays for drug safety assessment. 

Dr. Claus Michelsen 

Claus Michelsen is Managing Director for Economic Policy at the German Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (vfa). Previously, he was Head of Economic Forecasting at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin). He is a recognized expert on economic trends; for years, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) has ranked him among the 100 most influential economists in Germany. 

Dr. Wan-Hsin Liu

Wan-Hsin Liu is a Senior Researcher in the Research Groups "International Trade and Investments" and "Business Cycles and Growth" at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. She is Co-Head of the Kiel Institute China Initiative and Coordinator for the Kiel Centre for Globalization.