The world’s second largest economy, China has increased its role in the pharmaceutical research sector. A recent episode that illustrates this growing influence is the agreement announced on Monday (22) between the French group Ipsen and the Chinese laboratory Simcere Zaiming to acquire the rights to an experimental drug against cancerous tumors.
The contract, valued at more than a billion dollars (around 5.54 billion reais), will give the French group exclusive global rights to an experimental drug. The agreement demonstrates China’s growing role in this sector, the result of a political decision by Beijing. Ten years ago, the country declared the pharmaceutical industry a “national priority.”
“As usual, this was accompanied by subsidies,” explains Philippe Aguignier, researcher at the Institut Montaigne, in Paris, and professor of Chinese economics.
“Money was available and manufacturers were investing massively in fundamental research and the discovery of new molecules. Many young Chinese companies obtained results and discovered promising molecules,” he says.
Investment in fundamental research
The results began to appear with the discovery of cancer treatments, which Chinese biotechnology companies are now able to develop more quickly than in other countries.
“The authorities have invested a lot in the regulatory structure to modernize the regulatory body,” continues the professor. “They did everything they could to, for example, reduce the approval time for new drugs in the Chinese market. With really surprising results, they managed to reduce the approval time.”
The ambition of Chinese laboratories is clear: to establish themselves, firstly, on the domestic market, but also to export their innovations to emerging countries, the United States and Europe.
The experimental treatment to which the French group Ipsen will acquire the rights was “developed to deeply infiltrate tumors and fibroblasts associated with cancer, which resulted in significant tumor regressions in numerous preclinical models”. in vivo (studies carried out on living organisms)”, according to the company.
The global rights acquired by Ipsen cover the development, manufacturing and marketing of the drug. Phase 1 of clinical trials is planned for the second half of 2026.
In 2024, China will overtake the United States and become the world’s leading country in the discovery of new drug molecules, according to the annual study by EFPIA, the European pharmaceutical industry association.
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