BUZZ-Western pharma losing ground to local firms in China
** Multinational drugmakers are losing share to local market players in China, notably in areas such as insulin, according to an analysis of IMS Health (NYSE: IMS - news) data by Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news)
** Growth of the Chinese pharma market has slowed from 15% in 2013 to 6% in the second quarter of 2015, leading to disappointing results in the country for several Western companies
** Barclays says the pharma franchises of Merck KGaA (Other OTC: MKGAF - news) , UCB, Sanofi (NasdaqGM: GCVRZ - news) and Novartis are arguably the most resilient
** Relative slowdown in growth appears to have been greatest for AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) , Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Ipsen (RM (LSE: RM.L - news) : ben.hirschler.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)