{"id":385615,"date":"2026-04-18T09:41:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T09:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/385615\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T09:41:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T09:41:32","slug":"as-chinas-biotech-firms-shift-gears-can-ai-floor-the-accelerator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/385615\/","title":{"rendered":"As China\u2019s biotech firms shift gears, can AI floor the accelerator?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">A quarter featuring multiple eye-popping deals is no longer unusual for China\u2019s pharmaceutical industry \u2013 in fact, it may soon be considered a slow season.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In recent months, companies including CSPC Pharmaceutical and RemeGen have struck out-licensing agreements worth up to US$18.5 billion and US$5.6 billion respectively, while Haisco Pharmaceutical Group has added two of its own \u2014 most recently a deal worth up to US$745 million.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Under the terms of the deal, the Beijing-based Haisco granted US pharmaceutical giant AbbVie the rights to develop, manufacture and sell a portfolio of home-grown pain drug molecules outside China, as global drug makers race to replenish pipelines ahead of a looming patent cliff.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The burst of deal making signals a shift in how Chinese biotech firms are positioning themselves in the global drug industry \u2013 moving beyond low-cost manufacturing into higher-value innovation.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">With artificial intelligence also reshaping drug discovery and development, that shift may be hitting a new gear, raising a bigger question about how quickly China could climb to the global industry\u2019s top tier.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cChina is already a large player in the global drug value chain, and its role could become larger over the next three to five years,\u201d said Tony Ren, head of Asia Healthcare Research at Macquarie Capital, whose team covers about 30 healthcare stocks in Hong Kong, China and Japan.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">According to Macquarie Capital and McKinsey, the pharmaceutical value chain can be grouped into four main stages: research and development (R&amp;D), clinical trials, manufacturing and commercialisation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A quarter featuring multiple eye-popping deals is no longer unusual for China\u2019s pharmaceutical industry \u2013 in fact, it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[88147,365,363,364,4177,607,17537,11088,200029,4431,154117,132461,200031,27946,156407,111,139,69,145,3040,200030],"class_list":{"0":"post-385615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-abbvie","9":"tag-ai","10":"tag-artificial-intelligence","11":"tag-artificialintelligence","12":"tag-beijing","13":"tag-china","14":"tag-citigroup","15":"tag-goldman-sachs","16":"tag-haisco-pharmaceutical-group","17":"tag-hong-kong","18":"tag-insilico-medicine","19":"tag-jefferies","20":"tag-macquarie-capital","21":"tag-mckinsey","22":"tag-metis-techbio","23":"tag-new-zealand","24":"tag-newzealand","25":"tag-nz","26":"tag-technology","27":"tag-us","28":"tag-xtalpi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}