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Chinese innovative drugs' global rise is hot topic at JP Morgan Healthcare Conference 2026-01-19
Chinese innovative drugs were an unavoidable topic among participants at the 44th annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference due to their growing importance in the global pharmaceutical industry, with discussion focusing on innovative pipelines, tie-up opportunities, and the new international competitive landscape.
The JPM Healthcare Conference, which was held from Jan. 12 through 15 in San Francisco, can be seen as a symbol of multinational pharma companies' recognition of Chinese biopharmaceutical research and development achievements, Chen Feng, founder and chief executive of financial services provider Bojiang Capital, told Yicai.
"Multinationals, including Pfizer, Roche, AstraZeneca, and AbbVie, arranged dedicated one-on-one communication venues for Chinese projects during the conference," Chen said. Although these were low-key meetings, bustling crowds could be seen inside the venues, he added.
Bojiang Capital and accompanying Chinese biotech firms were invited to Pfizer's "China Innovation Reception" event at the conference, Chen noted, adding that more than 100 CEOs and the business cooperation leaders of major firms were in attendance.
Chen showed a video from the event in which Pfizer's global leaders of different product lines can be seen introducing their business on stage, with almost all attendees being Chinese nationals. The footage also captured active communication between executives from Chinese companies and the US pharma giant.
Chen previously worked at Pfizer and Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical. He set up Bojiang in 2023, focusing on investment and cross-border transactions in the pharma sector, with this year being his third at the JPM Healthcare Conference with CEOs from Chinese biopharma firms.
On his latest trip, Chen brought more than 20 projects from nearly 20 companies, aiming to connect with multinational pharma companies and global capital to promote the internationalization of the projects.
Over the past two years, almost every forum or discussion at the JPM Healthcare Conference has been more or less related to China, Josh Smiley, president of Shanghai-based biopharma company Zai Lab, said to Yicai. International pharma giants all seek potential innovative drugs from the country to enrich their R&D pipelines, he pointed out.
The industry has unanimously recognized the speed and efficiency demonstrated by Chinese biotech companies in advancing projects, Smiley noted. Chinese companies are no longer simply "technology importers," but equal "technology exporters," he said.
Before joining Zai Lab three and a half years ago, Smiley was chief financial officer of Eli Lilly, where he saw the cooperation between the US firm and Chinese innovative drugmaker Hutchmed. He also participated in the early-stage investment of Lilly Asia Ventures in Chinese innovative drugmakers.
The innovation capabilities of Chinese biopharma firms have been recognized worldwide, with many industry giants already regarding China's innovation capabilities as an important source of new product pipelines, Smiley said. The attitude towards the country's innovative drug achievements is becoming increasingly optimistic, with the excessive caution in investing in related projects no longer existing, he added.
"Having participated in the JPM Conference for three consecutive years, I have clearly felt that global capital is paying increasing attention to Chinese innovative drugs," Chen stressed. Whether it is multinational pharma companies or top investors, the opening remarks of their discussions directly touch on the "China topic" to seek cooperation opportunities with innovative assets, he added.
Multinational pharma giants face severe challenges from the cliff of heavyweight drug patents, giving them more motivation and urgency to acquire innovative products under development, which provides historic opportunities for many Chinese innovative drugs to go global, according to Chen.
"Some multinational companies have highly concentrated their global business development efforts on the Chinese market, and have sent additional business development teams to China to seek high-quality asset projects," Chen said.
On the first day of the JPM Healthcase Conference, AbbVie announced that it would acquire the global rights outside China to a novel bispecific antibody drug developed by Rongchang Bio for up to USD5.6 billion. The out-licensing agreement will be a record high one for Rongchang since it went public in Hong Kong in 2020.
More than one-third of authorized assets in the global innovative drug out-licensing agreements came from China last year, with the momentum expected to continue this year.
However, geopolitical risks are the biggest external variable, Chen said. "Despite strong commercial complementarity, policy regulations, including the Inflation Reduction Act and trade tariffs, are bringing uncertainties to overseas cooperation for Chinese innovative drugmakers.
"In addition, with US President Donald Trump tightening control over drug pricing in the United States, investors are worried about whether the future profit margins of innovative drugs will be squeezed even in countries with the strongest medical payment capacity in the world, like the US," Chen added.
Source: Yicai Global
