China speeds up biotech push
The Wall Street Journal reports Chinese biotech firms are accelerating research and forming partnerships that make their work faster and cheaper than many Western peers. The coverage highlights deals such as Pfizer‑Glubio and says China is no longer a biotech backwater, signaling competitive shifts in drug R&D and supply chains. (x.com)
China’s biotech companies are moving from contract work to drug discovery, and Western drugmakers are paying to get in early. (wsj.com) Pfizer completed a global, ex-China licensing deal with 3SBio on July 25, 2025 for SSGJ-707, an experimental cancer drug that targets both programmed cell death protein 1 and vascular endothelial growth factor. Business Wire said the agreement gives Pfizer development, manufacturing and commercialization rights outside China. (pfizer.com) Pfizer also struck a China commercialization deal with Hangzhou-based Sciwind Biosciences on February 24, 2026 for ecnoglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 drug approved in China in January 2026 for adults with type 2 diabetes. Sciwind said Pfizer China received exclusive commercialization rights in mainland China. (sciwindbio.com) A licensing deal is a shortcut for big drug companies: instead of inventing every molecule in-house, they pay for rights to a drug candidate built elsewhere. Nature said five of the top 10 research-and-development licensing deals of 2025 involved China-based companies. (nature.com) The pull is speed and cost. Testimony submitted to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said Phase 1 studies in China cost roughly one-third of U.S. levels and can recruit patients in weeks, which lets companies decide faster whether a drug is worth backing. (uscc.gov) That faster early testing is showing up in deal flow. Jefferies said China accounted for 32% of global biotech out-licensing deal value in the first quarter of 2025, up from 21% in 2024 and 2023 and 8% in 2021. (fiercebiotech.com) The mix of deals has widened beyond cancer. Nature highlighted China-linked agreements in antibodies and artificial-intelligence drug discovery, while AstraZeneca said its June 13, 2025 collaboration with CSPC Pharmaceuticals would use artificial intelligence to find oral drugs for chronic diseases. (nature.com, astrazeneca.com) The rise is happening even as Washington and Beijing fight over technology, trade and supply chains. Evaluate, cited by Fierce Biotech in January 2026, said the volume of China biotech acquisition and licensing deals in 2025 stayed near 2024 levels while the total value reached a record. (fiercebiotech.com) Not everyone reads the shift the same way. Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said in August 2025 that United States biotech needs more government support to keep pace, while other executives and investors have treated China as a growing source of pipeline assets rather than a manufacturing base alone. (biopharmadive.com, nature.com) The immediate test is whether more of these China-origin drugs make it through late-stage trials and onto global markets. If they do, more of the industry’s earliest bets will be placed in Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou instead of Boston or Basel. (wsj.com, nature.com)
