Recent Articles in Industry Insights

According to a survey of 53 China-focused life science investors, 79% of the respondents believe the US is the current global leader in innovation for life science while only 15% picked China. But fast forward six years to expectations for 2025, the vote was split evenly between the two countries at about 48% each, a big turnaround. The data comes from an online survey conducted by Healthcare Drinks, an industry networking group that presented the survey results at its most recent event, which was held at the Harvard Business School Club of Shanghai earlier this month. More details....

One year ago, the Hong Kong Exchange started its pre-revenue track for China biopharma IPOs. In its first twelve months of activity, the exchange hosted IPOs for ten biopharmas, including seven pre-revenue firms, and raised over US$4.2 billion. That made the HKEX the world's second largest exchange for biopharma IPOs. Charles Li, Chief Executive of the Exchange, told the more than 1,000 attendees at the Second HKEX Biotech Summit, held last week, that ten more biopharmas have already filed for future IPOs with a "very strong" pipeline following them. However, as Mr. Li noted in his Keynote Address, the future for Hong Kong and biotech has more than its usual share of uncertainty. More details....

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In a deeply researched Wall Street Journal article, Preetika Rana provides extraordinary depth into the story of Dr. Jiankui He, the man who announced last November he had used Crispr-Cas9 gene editing to alter human embryos in eight women. Dr. He was widely condemned at the time for the first-in-human experiment, and is probably now imprisoned by China authorities. But Ms. Rana told ChinaBio® Today, "Dr. He was a product of a system that encourages breaking scientific and social barriers, with rewards coming first." She continued, "As one of my sources says in the story: 'Of course, he made his own choices. But he was a product of his environment,' Arizona University’s Dr. Hurlbut said of Dr. He. 'The narrative of a rogue scientist excuses the rest of science from having played a role. That’s just not true.'" Ms. Rana has kindly provided a free link for ChinaBio readers to access the Wall Street Journal front page article (see article). More details....

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As 1400 life science executives, investors and entrepreneurs gather in Shanghai for the 11th annual ChinaBio® Partnering Forum, they have much to be happy about. Regulatory changes are speeding development and approval timelines for novel imported drugs in China, and VCs raised over $40 billion in new funding last year. But there are things to worry about. Can the tremendous growth in investment activity continue? The China and US governments seem to be moving towards restricting cross-border activity. Is this an unfounded fear, or is it having a real impact? Is money still flowing out of China into US biotechs? And are US and EU pharmas still partnering their drug candidates with China? The simple answer is “yes,” but as with everything in China, the real answer is more complex. More details....

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China is currently in the middle of a "Cambrian Explosion" of new drugs, according to Franck Le Deu, Senior Partner and Head of Greater China Healthcare practice at McKinsey & Company. The Cambrian Explosion is the period in Earth's evolution marked by extraordinary growth in the diversity of animal phyla. The same growth is happening in China's biopharma ecosystem, with innovative drugs now being approved and a flood of candidates in clinical trials. Mr. Le Deu isolated five general themes -- some negative, others positive -- about the current state of drug development, which we summarize. More details....

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