Out-licensing of clinical candidates from China has increased dramatically over the last five years, as the world’s pharma companies shore up their pipelines in anticipation of an approaching patent cliff for several blockbusters.
A recent GlobalData report describes the rise in licensing deals between Chinese biotechs and foreign pharma during 2025, noting that six of the 10 largest deals since 2020 have taken place in just the first nine months of this year.
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AstraZeneca leads the pack of developers acquiring rights to Chinese drugs, being responsible for the most out-licensing deals since 2020. The company has invested heavily in collaborations with Chinese companies, signing a deal worth $5.2bn in June 2025 to co-develop chronic disease drug candidates with Hebei-based CSPC Pharmaceuticals.
China now accounts for one fifth of all drugs in development, as per another GlobalData report. The country was the origin of 28% of the world’s licensed drugs in 2024 in deals valued at a collective $41.5bn, based on GlobalData’s Pharmaceutical Intelligence Centre, up 66% from 2023.
“The continued flow of deals with US and EU global pharmaceutical companies continues to validate the strength and maturity of China’s innovation landscape,” said George El-Helou, Pharma Strategic Intelligence analyst at GlobalData. While once notorious for cases of fabricated clinical data, El-Helou said China is now globally recognised as a leader for best-in-class therapies.
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By GlobalDataOncology candidates are the focus of most such deals, but a growing interest in immunological and metabolic candidates reflects a maturation of China’s innovative capabilities, according to Gaffar Aga, Pharma Strategic Intelligence analyst at GlobalData. Chinese developers are also pioneering advanced drug modalities; in 2024, monoclonal antibodies were the most out-licensed drugs to the US and EU from China.
The latest report attributed much of the uptick in out-licensing deals to regulatory reform, pointing to a 2024 pilot programme by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) to enhance clinical trials and expedite drug reviews. In 2017, the Chinese Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) announced a slew of reforms to bring China’s pharma regulation in line with that of other nations.
But straining international relations could threaten these deals, as exemplified by the recent passing of an amended BIOSECURE Act, which would block Chinese companies from accessing federal funds or collaborating with US companies that rely on US federal funding. Yet Chinese candidates are being increasingly out-licensed, in part through arrangements like NewCo deals, wherein licenses are granted to new offshore companies rather than directly to established developers.
