Latest news with #DrugTimes
South China Morning Post
5 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China approving innovative drugs at record pace as discovery momentum shifts from West
China is making inroads in the race for innovative pharmaceuticals, with a record number of drug approvals this year amid growing appeals for multinational giants to run onshore research entities. Authorities approved 43 innovative drugs in the first half of 2025, marking a 59 per cent year-on-year increase and nearly matching the total of 48 approvals for all of last year, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday, citing data from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). Many of the 43 innovative drugs approved for market launch are for serious conditions such as cancer, metabolic disorders and immune diseases, the report said. 'China's reform of drug review and approval processes has enabled pharmaceutical companies to better forecast their returns on R&D investments … making them more willing to pursue long-term, high-risk innovative drug development,' said Yang Ting, director of the NMPA's drug registration department, in an interview with CCTV. China is the world's second-largest biomedicine market, and global players have been increasingly expanding their presence there. Also in the year's first half, China set a record for licensing out innovative drugs – referring to rights granted to overseas markets – with a total value of US$48.4 billion, according to figures from mainland pharmaceutical consultancy DrugTimes. To further refine manufacturing processes and improve drug quality, additional approval procedures are often required after a drug's market launch.
South China Morning Post
03-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China's biotech firms record surge in overseas licensing deals in first quarter
The global expansion of Chinese biotech companies accelerated in the first quarter, with the number of overseas deals surging 18 per cent year on year, showing strong momentum in the field of drugs research, according to a new report. Advertisement Chinese drug makers landed 33 deals with overseas healthcare firms in the first three months of this year, with transactions totalling US$36.2 billion, according to a report published on Wednesday by mainland pharmaceutical and biotech consultancy DrugTimes. That was up from the first quarter last year, when Chinese biotech firms made 28 overseas deals, according to the report. There were 98 transactions recorded in 2024, with a total value of US$59.5 billion. The largest deal in the first quarter, with a contract value of US$13 billion, was between GeneQuantum – headquartered in Suzhou, a city in eastern Jiangsu province – and Nasdaq-listed Biohaven as well as Seoul-based pharmaceutical firm AimedBio. It involved antibody drug conjugates, which are a class of drugs designed as a targeted therapy for treating cancer. In one of the deals last quarter, Hong Kong-listed biotech firm Harbour BioMed entered into a strategic global collaboration with AstraZeneca to develop next-generation, multi-specific antibodies for immunology and oncology. The deal was valued at US$4.7 billion, according to DrugTimes. Advertisement The steady rise of these deals, including out-licensing and joint ventures, reflects how the Chinese pharmaceutical sector is expanding offshore.
