BEIJING: China will offer preferential tax rates to generic drugmakers, setting corporate income tax for qualified high-tech firms at 15 percent, China’s cabinet said in a policy document on Tuesday. The State Council also said it would draw up new incentives aimed at encouraging the development and production of generic drugs, a move it said would help safeguard public health, reduce medical bills and spur innovation.
The health commission will produce regular lists of drugs in short supply in order to encourage drugmakers to raise production, the cabinet said.
The protection of intellectual property rights in China has been a long-standing bone of contention for foreign firms, with fresh complaints from the United States about patent infringements now threatening to trigger a trade war.
