Due to the Chinese government loosening its grip on regulations, as well a rise in investments and foreign-trained researchers and workers, China is transforming into a burgeoning biotechnology hub. Drugmakers in China are receiving capital for R&D and innovation from US colleagues, with Merck, Eli Lilly, Tesaro and Incyte among the US-based companies that have signed multimillion dollar deals with Chinese drug companies. Other US companies have focused more on biotechnology R&D, investing in research at academic institutions in China.

Chinese biotechnology has worked long and hard to get to this point, with Chinese drug makers spending years providing contract services to companies such as Merck and Pfizer, while selling generic drugs instead of the innovations they were contributing to in the West. With more citizens returning to China with foreign training, the talent pool is rapidly growing and a new sector of biotechnology startups is becoming established. Initiatives such as the Thousand Talents program, which offers tax breaks, grants and other incentives to foreign-trained citizens to return home, have helped contribute to the boom in local talent. Moreover, the Chinese FDA has made the process of moving investigational therapies from research labs to doctor clinics much quicker as part of one of its many recent regulatory reforms.

There are still certain challenges that Chinese drugmakers must deal with, such as frequently failed US FDA inspections. Also, biotech startups must become profitable before going public and raising capital on the stock market. However, the surge in talent, startups, investments and collaboration with Western companies is ensuring China’s continued rapid rise to becoming a leader in biotechnology within the coming decades.

Source: STAT