Reference News Network, October 29 report. According to an article titled "Chinese Pharmaceutical Companies Transition from Generic Manufacturers to Global Innovators" published on the website of the UK's Financial Times on October 27, the following is a translated version:

This year, the number of overseas licensing deals made by Chinese pharmaceutical companies has reached a record high. As investors bet that China will become a driving force in global drug development, the stock prices of Chinese biotech companies have surged.

Data from Yiyao Magic Square, a pharmaceutical big data service platform in China, shows that in the first eight months of 2025, Chinese biotech companies completed 93 overseas licensing deals, mainly involving domestic pharmaceutical companies selling international licenses for their independently developed drugs, with a total transaction value of nearly $85 billion, which is expected to set a new record for the sixth consecutive year. This highlights the acceleration of the internationalization process of China's pharmaceutical industry.

At the same time, the rapid growth of companies such as Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceutical and Guangdong Kangfang Biopharma in clinical trials and early-stage R&D indicates that the trend of Chinese biotech companies authorizing drugs under development to global pharmaceutical companies will continue to deepen. This marks a clear reversal from ten years ago.

Brad Longcar, an expert who studies the Chinese biotech industry, said: "Ten years ago, China did not have a substantial biotech industry. At that time, most companies were developing generic drugs. Now, when large pharmaceutical companies are purchasing new medicines, most of them look towards China."

During the period around 2015, the Chinese government introduced a series of reform measures to broaden financing channels for biotech companies and encourage innovation. These reforms, along with China's relative speed and cost advantages in drug development and clinical trials, have injected strong momentum into the industry. With continued investor enthusiasm, the Hang Seng Biotech Index in Hong Kong has soared this year.

The development of Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceutical serves as a typical example of China's transition from being a "overseas drug generic manufacturer" to a "research and development center." Hengrui Pharmaceutical was established in 1970, and during its first 20 years, it was a small state-owned enterprise primarily producing low-cost disinfectants. In the 1990s, the company began developing anti-cancer generic drugs; after its shareholding reform in 1997, Hengrui Pharmaceutical started to invest resources to build its independent R&D capabilities. Today, Hengrui Pharmaceutical has a diverse pipeline of drugs under development, covering multiple fields such as weight loss drugs, anti-cancer drugs, and Alzheimer's disease treatment drugs.

Ren Tao, head of healthcare research at Macquarie Capital Asia, said that Hengrui Pharmaceutical is a "benchmark" in China's pharmaceutical industry.

He said: "The company has a series of rare comprehensive advantages - mature and reliable R&D processes, multiple global licensing deals, sales capabilities centered on the Chinese market, professional management teams, and a well-established corporate governance structure."

In just the past year, Hengrui Pharmaceutical has reached licensing agreements with companies such as Merck of the United States, Yongxin Biopharma, and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals of India. In July this year, the company also partnered with British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, and both parties plan to jointly develop as many as 12 drugs.

Longcar said: "In China, the scale production of drugs and the advancement of clinical trials are much faster than in the United States or European countries. If you have a new drug development idea, you can find out whether it is effective in China one to two years earlier than in Europe or the US."

For many Chinese biotech companies, the surge in international cooperation provides the much-needed financial support.

Although Chinese regulatory authorities have been vigorously supporting innovation, the current low prices of domestic medicines force pharmaceutical companies to turn to overseas markets to recoup R&D investments. Longcar said: "The Chinese pharmaceutical industry has never achieved a breakthrough in commercial sales, which is a great regret."

(Translated by Wu Mei)

Kangfang Biopharma's researchers conduct sampling analysis on drug production raw materials (Xinhua News Agency photo)

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7566529976430854682/

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