In this issue of “Our view”, we highlight China’s evolving stricter regulatory regime – stemming from government initiatives to improve corruption-related compliance – and discuss various issues unfolding in the country’s life sciences/pharmaceutical sector, given the wider implications for M&A and investment into China.

Key points of interest include:

• trends, and counter-trends, emerging in the life sciences/pharmaceutical industry given the potential for such issues to crystallize in M&A transactions
• China’s increasingly stringent regulatory regime and the need for deeper awareness of corruption-related compliance
• measures being taken to foil ever-more sophisticated tactics by employees/third parties to circumvent potentially outdated controls.