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September 6, 2008 1:11:58 AM CDT

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Big Pharma Goes East to Test Drugs

Posted Nov 19, 07 8:09 PM CST in Science & Health,  World 

(Newser) – Big Pharma is testing more drugs in China, where studies cost less and a big, aging population has more chronic ailments, Time reports. But critics question the country's product safety and ponder the fate of tested patients. Even Big Pharma is concerned—about intellectual property rights—but the lure of cheap testing and low salaries inspired them to double R&D in China last year.

"Of course money plays a role in the decision to do business there," said a researcher at global titan Roche. But China's doctors like it too: Patients "are getting advanced care without worrying about the price," said one. "It's the difference between life and death." Financial stakes are also high, as Big Pharma is under pressure to replace $29 billion in patents that will expire by 2009.

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A Chinese worker supervises the production line at Tongrentang, a traditional Chinese medicine industry lab in Beijing, China Friday Aug. 3, 2007. China under fire for contaminated food and drug products...   (Associated Press)
A Chinese worker takes a break from supervising the production line at Tongrentang traditional Chinese medicine plant to look out to a garden in Beijing, China Friday Aug. 3, 2007. China, under fire for...   (Associated Press)
A Chinese man makes a phone call inside a clinic in Beijing, China, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2007. China will launch a nationwide inspection of fish farms to guard against use of illegal drugs and chemicals,...   (Associated Press)
A Chinese worker adjusts her microscope at the Tongrentang Traditional Chinese Medicine Industry Lab in Beijing, China Friday Aug. 3, 2007.(AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)   (Associated Press)
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