New regulation to open huge market for medical e-business  

醫藥電商新規元旦后或出臺 市場規模將達3000億

(ECNS) -- China's control over e-sales of prescription medicine will be lifted gradually, opening the e-commerce market to pharmaceutical distribution companies, the Economic Information Daily reported.

The new regulation "Supervision and Management of Food and Drug E-Business" is expected to be issued after Jan 1, 2015. The regulation stipulates that any enterprise meeting certain qualifications and conditions can conduct pharmaceutical e-commerce, a source told the newspaper.

Products sold by online pharmacies are mainly condoms, contact lenses and other nonprescription drugs. Prescription drugs constitute less than 15 percent of the sales.

An insider estimates that 30 percent of prescription drugs with an expected value of 1 trillion yuan will be sold online, equal to a market size of 300 billion yuan ($48.5 billion)

The market size of medical e-commerce in 2010 was about 200 million yuan. That number doubled to 400 million yuan in 2011 and surged to 1.5 billion yuan in 2012. In 2013, the market reached 4 billion yuan, according to data from the China E-commerce Research Center (CECRC).

E-business tycoons such as JD.com and Tmall.com are looking forward to online sales of prescription drugs, while logistics companies such as SF Express and China Post are waiting for the China Food and Drug Administration to release details about drug distribution for third party logistics.