China is a growing hub for medical tourism, offering cutting-edge procedures cheaper than Western patients can access at home.
An infusion of CAR-T cancer immunotherapy costs up to $475,000 in the US; in China, as little as $150,000. China has set up a special international medical tourism zone in Hainan, and relaxed visa rules have encouraged visitors, Bloomberg reported.
Beijing has a cost advantage over the West in development as well as treatment: Drug discovery is 30-40% cheaper than in the US or EU, and big pharma — with many products falling out of patent soon — is looking to Chinese-developed drug candidates.
Licensing deals between Chinese biopharma companies and global drugmakers hit a record $137 billion last year.