PRC molecule: how an American made $2 billion on Chinese medicines

In the 1990s, McKinsey employee John Oyler flew frequently on business trips to Beijing and other Chinese cities. In 2005, thinking about starting a pharmaceutical business, he came to China again.and was amazed by the changes - the country has become one of the leading economies in the world. However, skepticism reigned in the biopharmaceutical industry at the time. The heads of local companies talked a lot about the "patent cliff" - a sharp decrease in the income from the sale of drugs due to the expiration of patents on them and the copying of these products by other firms. There was also a gloomy mood regarding investments in the development of new drugs. Many believed that all relatively simple drugs had already been developed, and it would take too much money and time to work on new ones. “I never believed it,” says Oyler. Assessing the situation, he realized that it was China that had great potential in the field of finding formulas for new drugs. This belief allowed him to become the owner of a fortune of 1.8 billion dollars.