How fast can the drugmaker backpedal?

Late last month, Sherry Ku, Wyeth’s senior director in China, was quoted while attending an industry conference in Hainan that the drugmaker would be shifting its Asian base from China to India if the Chinese government fails to speed regulatory procedures for approving new drugs.

Unless talks are particularly tense, such signals are often sent more discreetly. So now, the drugmaker is scrambling to deny any such plans exist. “China is integral to Wyeth’s future business plans, and Wyeth continues to invest significantly in its China business,” says Chris Garland, a Wyeth spokesman back in New Jersey, where the drugmaker is based.

As an example of commitment, he points to its a clinical research unit that was opened in Shanghai in 2006 and will eventually be responsible for enrolling up to 20 percent of global clinical study patients. No investment figure was provided. Wyeth China has two branches that were set up in 1991 and 1995.

Threatening to pull out of countries is something big pharma does regularly. But the Chinese market is so huge and growing so quickly that it may be time to reconsider what would likely be, in this case, empthy threats. What do you think Sherry Ku’s fortune cookie says?

ChinaKnowledge.com[tags]China, Wyeth[/tags]