Recent Articles in Industry Insights

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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Investments in China life science set new records in all categories during 2018, reflecting the increasing development of the industry. And these numbers are spectacular even in comparison to an already strong 2017. Here are the numbers for 2018:

• $43 billion raised for new VC/PE funds targeting China life science investments, with average fund size increasing to $765 million;
• $17 billion invested in China life science companies, up 36% from 2017, with another $8 billion in corporate investments;
• $34 billion in value created in M&A deals, 53% higher than 2017, with average deal value exceeding $200 million;
• $7 billion in IPO funding, an increase of 40%, with an average raise of over $250 million;
• $14 billion in partnering activity, up 75% from $8 billion in 2017.

With all the parts of China's life science sector operating in apparent overdrive, what's not to like? More details....

Note: This material will be explored further at the China Showcase, JP Morgan Healthcare Conference on Sunday, January 6, 2019.

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Dr. Jonathan Wang, founding partner and Senior Managing Director of OrbiMed Asia, recently spoke with ChinaBio® Today in an exclusive interview about OrbiMed Asia and its place in China's healthcare investing landscape. Currently, China's market is "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he said, though probably in some form of bubble. Dr. Wang foresees a correction, not a crash, sometime in the future. China's very positive underlying situation is too strong to stay in decline for long, he believes. In eleven years, OrbiMed Asia has closed about 50 investments in healthcare companies, and it has made commitments for over half of its $551 million third fund, announced last year. More details....

Innovent, Hua Medicine, Ascletis, Henlius, Shanghai Tasly, Ascentage, Grail -- each of these companies is a young, prominent China novel life science company. And each is pre-revenue, or at least pre-profit. Each one would like to stage an IPO to fund their late-stage clinical trials and commercialization. Up to now, no China-Hong Kong exchange would allow companies to IPO without a history of profitable operations. That's about to change. Later this year, Hong Kong is expected to begin IPOs for maturing (though not yet profitable) biopharmas. It's a big step forward, and each one of these companies is contemplating taking advantage of Hong Kong's offer. More details....

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