China's commerce ministry holds meeting with foreign pharmaceutical firms

Novartis AG

22/05/2026 14:21

BEIJING, May 22 (Reuters) - China's commerce ministry held a roundtable meeting with representatives from more than 50 foreign pharmaceutical companies on Friday, a ministry statement showed.

The companies include Sanofi SASY.PA, Novartis NOVN.S, BD BDX.N, Danaher DHR.N, Merck MRK.N, Eli Lilly LLY.N and Gilead Sciences GILD.O, according to the statement.

China is committed to improving pricing mechanisms and regulatory systems for the health care sector, and welcomes pharmaceutical companies from all countries to deepen their presence in the Chinese market, said Ling Ji, a vice commerce minister who chaired the meeting.

 (Reporting by Xiuhao Chen, Yukun Zhang and Ryan Woo, Editing by Louise Heavens)

 ((yukun.zhang@thomsonreuters.com))