Western Drug Executives Pause Some Activities in China; Except for Innovative Drug Research and Development

Over the last 15 years, China has been good at replicating and making good generic drugs and more sophisticated devices. Over the last few years, with the help of massive investment from the Chinese government and gobs of new local and foreign venture capital, China has become a major research and development hub for new innovative novel drugs. Last year, several major Western drug makers licensed or acquired new molecules developed in China. Figures vary on the total Western drug investment, but about $3 billion of deals in 2024 seems accurate. Western companies scouring China for key new drug assets include AbbVie, BMS, Novartis, Bayer, Eli Lilly, Roche, Astra Zeneca, GSK, and Novartis

Thus, while Western drug companies shift away from Chinese research providers for raw materials, API, and contract manufacturing due to the looming BioSecure Act and also make more of their drugs in China for China due to China’s Made in China 2025 policy, licensing and asset purchases in China are increasing dramatically. Will this divert big pharma’s attention away from Western homegrown biotech companies? Of course, it will to some extent. Whether early-stage Chinese assets will prove worthy when more trials are run in the West, and they are under more scrutiny from Western regulators – is also an issue. While some Chinese biotech companies will look for deals in the West, others are rushing to file IPOs in the lucrative Hong Kong market. How this will all shake out is anyone’s guess, but there is no doubt that China’s ability to create innovative novel drugs is here to stay.


Written by: Ames Gross – President and Founder, Pacific Bridge Medical (PBM)

Mr. Gross founded PBM in 1988 and has helped hundreds of medical companies with regulatory and business development issues in Asia. He is recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in the Asian medical markets. Mr. Gross has a BA degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia University.