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Chinese Company Surprises by Creating a More Effective Drug Than the Global Sales Leader, Challenging Pharmaceutical Industry Giants and Driving Medical Advancements
Chinese innovation is gaining ground in the global biotechnology industry. The recent creation of a new drug for lung cancer by the company Akeso has shaken the sector and generated a wave of international interest.
The drug, called Ivonescimab, has outperformed one of the leading treatments on the market in tests conducted in China.
The Drug That Outperformed Keytruda
Ivonescimab showed superior performance to Keytruda, the American giant Merck’s drug, in a clinical trial conducted in China.
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According to data presented at the World Conference on Lung Cancer, patients treated with the new drug waited 11.1 months before their tumors began to grow again, while patients treated with Keytruda had a shorter time of 5.8 months.
The impact of this discovery was immediate on the financial market. The American company Summit Therapeutics, which holds marketing rights for Ivonescimab in North America and Europe, saw its stock more than double within days of the announcement.
Despite the buzz in the sector, Akeso’s development only received more public attention recently, following technological advancements from DeepSeek in China, which increased the visibility of Chinese innovation on the global stage.
Michelle Xia, CEO of Akeso, stated that Chinese biotechnology is gaining international relevance and that the company intends to increase its share in the global market.
In a press release, the company emphasized that the success of the drug is due to deep knowledge in disease biology and protein engineering, combined with the speed of development and a large talent pool in China.
The Evolution of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Industry
China has a long history of drug production, but for a long time, its pharmaceutical industry focused on replicating Western drugs. Until the 1980s, sector companies were predominantly state-owned and focused on generic medications.
However, in the last ten years, there has been a significant shift. Chinese companies began to develop innovative drugs capable of competing directly with major Western labs. This advancement has been driven by increasing investments and strategic partnerships with foreign entities.
AstraZeneca, for example, signed a US$ 1.92 billion contract with CSPC Pharmaceutical Group for the development of cardiovascular drugs. Meanwhile, Merck closed a US$ 2 billion agreement with Hansoh Pharmaceutical to develop an experimental weight-loss drug.
The changing perception of the Chinese industry is increasingly evident. Rebecca Liang, a pharmaceutical analyst at AB Bernstein, pointed out that until recently, few viewed Chinese companies as real competitors to major American pharmaceutical firms.
But this is changing. With the creation of innovative drugs, China’s biotechnology sector is starting to be seen as a real threat to industry giants.
Rapid Growth and New Investments
Recent reports show the impressive growth of the sector. A study by HSBC Qianhai Securities revealed that the number of licensing agreements between Chinese and foreign companies increased from 46 in 2017 to over 200 last year. The value of these agreements jumped from US$ 4 billion to US$ 57 billion during the same period.
Data from Mergermarket also indicate that the volume of pharmaceutical transactions over US$ 50 million involving Chinese companies grew by 30% in 2024 compared to the previous year. This growth reflects the increasing interest of global investors in China’s biotechnology industry.
Experts point out that this advancement results from various factors. Government support, foreign investment, and the availability of highly skilled labor have been essential for the industry’s development.
Cui Cui, director of health research at Jefferies, highlighted that the research capabilities of Chinese companies are rapidly improving, which could lead to direct competition with leading global pharmaceutical firms in the future.
The Challenge of Trust in the Chinese Market
Despite the advancement in innovation, there are still doubts about the quality of drugs produced in China. Internally, there is a long history of public distrust regarding generic drugs, which are cheaper versions of patented medications.
Last month, this distrust was revealed in an intense public debate over the quality of Chinese generics, prompting the government to conduct an official investigation.
After the analysis, health authorities concluded that the concerns were unfounded, but the controversy exposed the difficulty of the Chinese pharmaceutical industry in gaining consumer trust.
Even among its own citizens, there is resistance to the use of local medications. Some residents of Beijing stated that they prefer imported drugs because they consider them more reliable.
An interviewee by CNN, Gu Zhihao, declared that he prefers to pay more for an imported drug, as he believes its quality is superior.
Obstacles in International Markets
In addition to internal distrust, Chinese companies also face challenges in expanding their presence in Western markets. The FDA, the United States regulatory agency, has previously rejected drugs developed in China due to failures in clinical trials.
Experts claim that some of these rejections occurred because the trials did not meet the strict timelines required by American standards.
Ivonescimab still needs to go through new phases of testing to be approved in the U.S. Currently, a global study is underway and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. If the results confirm the drug’s efficacy, Akeso could gain even more space in the international market.
With information from Edition.cnn.
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