Rising competition and costs have hit players in the organised pharmacy market. The glitzy outlets that promised to change the face of Retail pharmacy—threatening the existence of the corner medical stores by combining lifestyle products, cosmetics and consumer experience with a wider range of pharma products—are facing pressure during slowdown. This is mainly because shrinking budgets in the tough times have slowed spending on lifestyle products and cosmetics, the high margins categories that kept the format going.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) received European Commission authorisation for Synflorix, a paediatric pneumococcal vaccine to protect against life-threatening diseases such as meningitis and bacteraemic pneumonia, as well as middle ear infections. In Europe, approximately one in three cases of serious pneumococcal disease in young children caused by bacterial serotypes is not covered by the currently available pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

Genentech Inc.'s (DNA) ability to leverage a higher price tag from Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) in an otherwise downtrodden market demonstrates the attractiveness of biotech assets, especially for the right buyer.

According to the report´s Asia Pacific Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Business Environment Ranking table for Q109, Hong Kongs pharmaceutical market remains viewed as the sixth-most attractive in the region, on a par with Taiwan. Over our five-year forecast period, the report expects Hong Kong to be overtaken by countries like India, as they start to fulfil their potential.