Innovation in the Chinese Biopharma Sector: From Me-too to First-in-Class

China is moving from ‘Made in China’ to ‘Designed in China’. In the biopharma space this is no different. China’s biotech innovation is really only a decade old, but a momentous shift has occurred already. By now China’s R&D has come a long way, moving away from generic drugs to the latest technologies. Starting in the early 2000s, a first wave of new generation innovative pharma companies formed in China. As scientific research and core R&D however was not at a level to produce first-in-class innovation, these companies aimed on being fast followers for me-too and me-better drugs. Around 2016, the Chinese biopharma landscape started to evolve again, and a next wave of innovation emerged. Chinese companies started to deepen its scientific understanding and started to work on novel biotechnologies. While not being first-in-class, companies embarked on more innovation, especially in the field of antibodies. Learning from past experiences and urged on by their investors, since 2020 an increasing number of Chinese biopharmas have embarked on a strategy to develop first-in-class drugs with global potential using novel technologies. Especially during the pandemic, China became host to a fleet of new biotech firms that raked in enormous amounts of funding during the height of the venture capital boom. Many companies are now working in the gene and cell therapy field, RNA-related technologies, radiopharmaceutical drugs and all kinds of new cutting-edge technologies. By far the most promising way how China could leapfrog in drug discovery and overcome traditional problems, is applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the process. The results of all this are increasingly visible. Where Chinese biopharma companies traditionally in-licensed new assets from abroad, in 2023 there was more out-licensing than in-licensing activity. The innovation potential of China is now unquestioned. Given the fact that the Chinese biopharma sector only exists for not yet a decade, this is a remarkable achievement. But despite having great strides going forward, Chinese biopharma has yet to produce a substantial number of patented drugs that can compete globally and commercialized around the world, and challenges remain.