Pfizer is unlikely to tie up with Indian companies soon for manufacture of its COVID-19 vaccine as it has built capacity for the first phase. However, as discussions to supply to the COVAX facility and developing countries progress, it could evaluate such opportunities later.

Only three of 40 qualified international drug firms won in the latest round of China's central bidding process, showing a toughening environment. But some companies are seemingly determined not to lower prices any further.

Increasingly looking to China to commercialize their latest therapies, multinationals may be leaping into unknown waters to navigate an intellectual property judiciary and administrative maze, in a country where some copy drugs have been approved before patent expiry. With a government trying to balance innovation and access, two recent rulings involving AstraZeneca shed rare light onto China’s protections for innovation, with advisors pointing to challenges and success factors.