The words "made in China" were once synonymous with cheap manufacturing, but the country is moving up the value chain into innovative medicine. Chinese pharma groups are now developing drugs that global giants want to license and export. The latest example is Roche's deal potentially worth more than $15 billion to partner with Hansoh Pharma on antibody-drug conjugates.
Hansoh will lead early clinical development while Roche handles global commercialization outside mainland China. This shift represents foreign pharma groups paying to access innovation developed in China. For Chinese drugmakers, licensing deals offer a path to global markets without shouldering full development risk, while upfront payments and royalties fund future research.
Hengrui Pharma recently licensed an experimental weight-loss pill to Novo Nordisk, offering another case in point. However, complex biologics pose manufacturing challenges, and geopolitics could limit market access as governments grow sensitive to dependence on China for important technologies. Despite these hurdles, the progress is clear: Chinese drugmakers have moved from cheap mass production to capturing more of the global value generated by their discoveries, suggesting pharma might soon follow the trajectory of electric vehicles and batteries.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing