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Julie Zhang

China is gaining a solid reputation as a pharmaceutical innovation hub, shifting from a copycat drug maker to one whose infrastructure and research and development capabilities rival global pharmaceutical behemoths, according to a global consultancy.
US-based SAI MedPartners and its unit Idea Pharma recently launched a new index with the aim of highlighting Chinese drug makers and recognising their shift from generics to “true” innovation.
The consultancy released the China Pharmaceutical Innovation and Invention Index (CPIII) on December 7 as a stand-alone ranking for the first time, after 14 years of publishing a global pharmaceutical innovation index.
“Companies in China are also more efficient when it comes to developing medicines,” said Jacqueline Poot, the London-based president of Idea Pharma’s strategic consulting and analytics business unit. “For example, the average global cost is around US$5 billion to bring a new medicine to market, but for companies like Hengrui, it’s close to US$1 billion.”

She said that even early-stage biotech companies in China engaged in large and wide-ranging clinical trial programmes, which were rare in Europe or the US.
“[Moreover], China has really become the destination of choice for global players to find novel assets for their pipelines – particularly in oncology, where by 2030, up to half of current branded products will have expired patents.”
Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals took the top spot, followed by BeOne, across all measures of the Chinese index among 30 mainland companies that were evaluated.
The index was built around two sub-indices: an innovation index, which measured how effectively companies turned an invention into meaningful clinical and commercial value, and the invention index, which tracked the creation of novel drugs and technologies that did not previously exist.
While Hengrui excels in solid tumour treatments, BeOne has distinguished itself with its BTK inhibitor zanubrutinib and PD-1 inhibitor tislelizumab for cancer treatments.
In 2024, BeOne’s zanubrutinib achieved global sales of 18.7 billion yuan (US$2.6 billion), ranking second globally and first in China in the BTK inhibitor class.
“We chose to launch the first Chinese innovation index this year because we can see a clear trend – China is becoming a global pharmaceutical innovation hub with very different players [from global partners],” said Celia Deng, the Beijing-based president for Asia at SAI MedPartners. “China is moving from generics and ‘me-too’ drugs towards true innovation in areas such as antibody-drug conjugates and CAR‑T.”
CAR‑T is a personalised cancer treatment that reprogrammes a patient’s own immune cells so they can better recognise and kill cancer cells.
Chinese government policy support was speeding up the entire chain for innovative drugs, from regulation approval to the inclusion of innovative therapies on reimbursement lists and their uptake in hospitals, said Deng.
This year commercial insurers, for the first time, took part in national drug reimbursement talks.
The other players in the innovation index include Sino Biopharmaceutical, Innovent Biologics and Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group.
Alphamab Oncology, DualityBio, Harbour BioMed, Minghui Pharmaceutical and Virogin Biotech were recognised as the rising pharmaceutical innovation stars this year.
“There are so many biotech companies in China that have not been unveiled on the global stage, it’s important for them to be seen because they represent innovation progress,” said Deng.
There was still a long way to go before Chinese pharmaceutical companies became household names like telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies and electric-car maker BYD, “but we are seeing major progress – more licensing, co-development and global recognition”, she added.


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The China Pharmaceutical Innovation and Invention Index, a new gauge, highlights top drug makers on the mainland for the first time


The China Pharmaceutical Innovation and Invention Index, a new gauge, highlights top drug makers on the mainland for the first time.


China’s pharmaceutical sector moves into the big leagues as a global innovation powerhouse

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The China Pharmaceutical Innovation and Invention Index, a new gauge, highlights top drug makers on the mainland for the first time

The China Pharmaceutical Innovation and Invention Index, a new gauge, highlights top drug makers on the mainland for the first time