China has quickly become a major force in drug innovation. A US congressional commission said last year that the country’s biopharmaceutical sector had gone from a minor player to a dominant one in just the last few years. Beijing has named biotech a strategic priority, aiming to cut its reliance on imported drugs and compete on the world stage. According to OECD data, China’s total R&D spending on drugs/biotech passed that of the United States for the first time in 2024, when adjusted for purchasing power.
China’s growing influence shows up in its share of the global drug pipeline, which has risen to nearly a third of the world’s new drugs. It now also accounts for a majority of new oncology trials globally. One big advantage is speed and cost. Faster regulatory pathways, a large network of trial sites, and a huge patient pool let Chinese sponsors start and enroll studies much more quickly than in most US and EU markets. McKinsey estimates enrollment in China runs several times faster than elsewhere, depending on the therapy area.
Chinese companies are also increasingly competing with Western firms in terms of research. One example is BeOne, formerly BeiGene. It was founded in Beijing, is now headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and has three products approved by the US FDA. For global pharma companies, China is now both a source of partnerships and licensing deals and a growing global competitor. While most Chinese drug and biotech companies are still based in China, we expect that many will open offices in the West, as BeOne has now done.