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Chinese Pharma is On the Cusp of Going Global (economist.com)

(Wednesday November 26, 2025 @05:41PM (msmash) from the PSA dept.)


China's pharmaceutical industry has quietly evolved from a hub for generics and clinical trials into something more ambitious -- [1]a genuine competitor in drug discovery that Western giants are now courting to fill gaps left by looming patent expirations worth over $300 billion by 2030. In the first half of 2025, nearly a third of global licensing agreements signed by big pharma involved Chinese firms, Economist reports, four times the share from 2021. Pfizer agreed in May to pay $1.25 billion to 3SBio for an experimental cancer drug, and GlaxoSmithKline followed in June with a deal valued at up to $12 billion with Hengrui. Chinese companies now run about a third of the world's clinical trials, up from 5% a decade ago.



[1] https://www.economist.com/china/2025/11/23/chinese-pharma-is-on-the-cusp-of-going-global



Will be prohibited into the United States (Score:2)

by hwstar ( 35834 )

In the name of Safety. Efficacy and the potential of becoming overly dependent on China for an essential product or service.

But the main underlying reason is that low priced competition won't be allowed patent or no patent. The entrenched players will see to that by manipulating congress to get what they want. For an example look at Chinese electric cars.

About time (Score:2)

by gweihir ( 88907 )

Western pharmaceutical companies have gotten fat and lazy and do not take the risk of doing R&D anymore, with rare exceptions. If China kicks their collective behinds, all the better.

Subtlety is the art of saying what you think and getting out of the way
before it is understood.