Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), a leading global pharmaceutical company, recently registered and opened a subsidiary in the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone in south China’s Hainan Province.

This is MSD’s first subsidiary set up in the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), which bears witness to the FTP’s major breakthroughs in attracting international leading-edge biopharmaceutical companies.

An aerial view of the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone, one of the 13 key industrial parks in the Hainan FTP. (Photo: Hainan Daily) 

Headquartered in New Jersey in the United States, MSD is one of the world’s premier research-intensive biopharmaceutical companies, dedicated to developing and marketing innovative pharmaceutical products. MSD is often ranked among the top five pharma companies in the world by revenue.

Over the past few years, thanks to the preferential policies of the Hainan FTP, the Lecheng Medical Pilot Zone (also known as “Boao Hope City”) has attracted a number of high-quality medical institutions, medical device companies, and insurance firms, including Singapore's Raffles Medical Group, South Korea's JK Plastic Surgery, and Japan's Towako Group.

The availability of international advanced pharmaceuticals and medical equipment has brought great hope to Chinese patients and provided a new path for the reform of the medical industry nationwide.