Italian pharmaceutical companies are primed to make big inroads into China's increasingly open drug market as the two countries have pledged to intensify co-operation on jointly developing and marketing traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

"We are very much interested (in the Chinese market)," said Mauro Bove, head of the Corporate Development Department of Sigma Tau, an Italian drug maker and researcher.

"We will help TCM meet EU and other standards and register products around the world," said Bove, adding they have already achieved some advances in this regard.

The alliance between Sigma Tau and Chongqin Holley Holdings, a Chinese drug maker, has enabled them to jointly develop and market TCM.

"We will increase our investments in clinical studies and personnel exchanges to make TCM acceptable to public organizations and more patients in the West," said Bove.

However he also admitted that the process has to be gradual.

China's traditional medicine, which is effective in treating many diseases, faces difficulties when entering the global market due to the lack Western scientific evidence as to its safety and practicality.

Chinese and Italian governments signed agreements in May to intensify co-operation in TCM development to solve the bottlenecks hampering its entry into the international market.

In addition, Italian companies also expressed their intention of entering the Chinese market by forming partnerships with local players.

"We are looking for more industrial presence (in China)," said Paolo De Angeli, general manager of the International Division of Chiesi Farmaceutici, which already has two products on the Chinese market.

The company is now working hard to find Chinese partners and is planning to take a minority stake of Chinese companies by transferring its core technologies.

"We have identified Southwest Pharmaceutical Group Ltd as a possible partner," said the manager, adding that he is waiting for a response from the Chongqing-based company.

Angeli also said the company has just begun its joint-venture plan in China and wants to realize it within two years.

The medium-sized Italian company has notched up an annual turnover of US$1.5 million in China, a relatively small figure but large enough to encourage a bigger investment in the lucrative Chinese market.

He also said his company will be interested in jointly developing and promoting TCM if the product falls within the company's expertise range in treating asthma and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).

China's drug sector opened wider for foreign investors after the nation entered the World Trade Organization in late 2001.

And the country's rapidly improving patent protection which culled those companies illegally copying from others also helped create a sound environment for foreign investment.

A number of Italian companies arrived in Beijing on Sunday as members of a business delegation headed by Girolamo Sirchia, Italian minister of health.

"We have an idea of launching a joint laboratory with China to further research and promote TCM," Sirchia told a news briefing over the weekend at the Italian Embassy in Beijing.

Corporate and government co-operation tops the visiting minister's agenda.

From ChinaDaily.com