https://www.scmp.com/rss/522096/feed The latest news and top stories on Tony Ren, head of Asia Healthcare Research at Macquarie Capital. He leads expert analysis on the Asian healthcare sector, identifying investment opportunities and covering numerous stocks across the continent. Ren’s responsibilities include providing insights on biotech funding trends, the impact of tariffs and China’s evolving healthcare policies. He previously held significant roles, including Head of North Asia Healthcare Research at CLSA Ltd. and Research... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Daniel Ren Daniel Ren The cross-border outlicensing activities of Chinese biotech firms reached a record transaction value of US$60 billion in the first quarter of 2026, driven by multinational pharmaceutical companies’ growing appetite for the country’s promising drug candidates. The deal value represented a 73 per cent jump from the same period a year earlier, and accounted for nearly half of the total US$135.7 billion worth of agreements signed throughout 2025, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA)... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3348295/china-biotech-deals-hit-record-innovative-drugs-draw-interest-multinationals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3348295/china-biotech-deals-hit-record-innovative-drugs-draw-interest-multinationals?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Mar 2026 11:26:21 +0000 Julie Zhang Julie Zhang At least 10 weight-loss injections and oral pills are lining up for regulatory approval in China, in a market projected to reach about US$14 billion by 2030. Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster semaglutide, which generated about US$35 billion in global revenue last year, lost patent protection in China on March 20, clearing the way for rivals. The rush comes as China’s drug regulator accelerates approvals of innovative therapies, helped by a surge in out-licensing deals with global pharmaceutical... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3347869/chinas-weight-loss-drug-makers-take-global-giants-novo-nordisk-patent-expires?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3347869/chinas-weight-loss-drug-makers-take-global-giants-novo-nordisk-patent-expires?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Mar 2026 03:00:08 +0000 Julie Zhang Julie Zhang AstraZeneca said it would establish drug manufacturing facilities in Guangzhou and Shanghai as well as a separate innovation centre in Shanghai, joining a group of foreign players building new plants in China amid geopolitical tensions. The moves are part of a US$15 billion commitment the British firm pledged to make in the world’s second-largest drug market through 2030, unveiled during UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to Beijing in January. China’s manufacturing capabilities, integrated... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3347266/global-drug-giants-double-down-china-amid-trend-build-self-reliant-supply-chains?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3347266/global-drug-giants-double-down-china-amid-trend-build-self-reliant-supply-chains?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Mar 2026 06:30:09 +0000 Yulu Ao,Julie Zhang Yulu Ao,Julie Zhang Mainland China and Hong Kong should ease listing rules for biotechnology companies and lower takeover thresholds for listed firms to capitalise on renewed foreign interest in the healthcare sector, venture capitalist Nisa Leung said. “Besides artificial intelligence, Premier Li Qiang also highlighted biomedicine in the ‘two sessions’ annual government work report,” said Leung, a managing partner at Aulis Capital. “We are paying attention to medical insurance and commercial insurance, but at the... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3345589/china-and-hong-kong-should-relax-biotech-listing-rules-venture-capitalist-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3345589/china-and-hong-kong-should-relax-biotech-listing-rules-venture-capitalist-says?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Mar 2026 10:59:42 +0000 Julie Zhang Julie Zhang The pace and size of outlicensing deals between Chinese drug makers and global partners have accelerated this year, highlighted by two agreements announced this week, each worth more than US$1 billion. The string of deals shows how China is becoming a sought-after source of drug candidates for multinational pharmaceutical companies, which are increasingly looking for long-term partnerships rather than one-off arrangements, analysts said. The latest deals, Sino Biopharmaceutical’s agreement with... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3345404/china-outlicensing-tops-us52-billion-first-two-months-rise-global-deals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3345404/china-outlicensing-tops-us52-billion-first-two-months-rise-global-deals?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Mar 2026 09:30:11 +0000 Julie Zhang Julie Zhang Hong Kong-listed mainland Chinese pharmaceutical companies are on track to deliver full-year profits, as surging drug sales and lucrative out-licensing deals with global partners start to pay off after years of research and development outlay. “Despite domestic challenges, particularly drug pricing pressure, the earnings performance of innovative drugs should still fare well in China in 2025,” said Tony Ren, head of Asia Healthcare Research at Macquarie Capital. Innovent Biologics, the first... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3344928/hong-kong-listed-chinese-drug-firms-set-turn-corner-rising-sales-licensing-deals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3344928/hong-kong-listed-chinese-drug-firms-set-turn-corner-rising-sales-licensing-deals?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Mar 2026 04:00:22 +0000 Julie Zhang Julie Zhang A surge in drug research in China has driven the cost of a laboratory monkey to about 140,000 yuan (US$20,260), a sum that exceeds the country’s average annual wage. Official government procurement records showed that prices had doubled in the last five years for such monkeys, which are widely used in the preclinical stage to check whether a drug is safe and how it is absorbed, broken down and cleared by the body. Analysts said the soaring cost was underpinned by a flood of drug-licensing deals... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3343819/chinas-biotech-boom-sends-price-lab-monkeys-drug-tests-climbing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3343819/chinas-biotech-boom-sends-price-lab-monkeys-drug-tests-climbing?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Feb 2026 09:00:08 +0000 Julie Zhang Julie Zhang Foreign and mainland Chinese drug makers are fighting for a multibillion-dollar slice of the domestic weight-loss market by slashing prices by as much as 80 per cent, as China faces a worsening obesity crisis. Competition in the sector, dominated by global pharmaceutical giants Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, intensified after both secured obesity-drug approvals in China in 2024. The landscape is set to shift further when the patent on Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide expires in March in China, opening... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3339544/chinas-weight-loss-drug-war-prices-slashed-80-obesity-crisis-worsens?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3339544/chinas-weight-loss-drug-war-prices-slashed-80-obesity-crisis-worsens?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Jan 2026 23:30:09 +0000 Julie Zhang Julie Zhang Mainland China’s 17 million Alzheimer’s patients can, for the first time, pay less out of pocket for a costly drug touted as “historic” and “the beginning of the end” for the memory-robbing disease after Beijing launched a commercial insurance innovative drug list in an effort to make medicines more accessible and affordable. Leqembi, developed by Japan’s Eisai and costing a mainland Chinese patient about US$28,400 a year, could see its price cut by half after it was added to the inaugural... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3336397/chinas-new-drug-insurance-lifeline-patients-or-squeeze-big-pharmaceutical-firms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3336397/chinas-new-drug-insurance-lifeline-patients-or-squeeze-big-pharmaceutical-firms?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Dec 2025 23:30:07 +0000 Eric Ng,Julie Zhang Eric Ng,Julie Zhang When Zhao Hong, chief doctor of China’s leading cancer hospital at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, told his fellow delegates at a Communist Party meeting in March that a little-known Guangzhou biotech firm’s cancer drug had beaten the world’s bestselling medicine, investors took notice. “As a long-serving front-line doctor, my most profound feeling is that China is at the best time of its biopharmaceutical sector’s development,” he told state media on the sidelines of the annual Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3327701/chinas-biotech-renaissance-rising-drug-creation-prowess-attracts-global-notice?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3327701/chinas-biotech-renaissance-rising-drug-creation-prowess-attracts-global-notice?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Oct 2025 02:00:09 +0000 Eric Ng Eric Ng Eleven Chinese healthcare and biotechnology companies filed applications to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange in the last two days of September, taking advantage of an ongoing investment boom in the sector. The best-known names among them are online healthcare services firm We Doctor Holdings, Sichuan Biokin Pharmaceutical – known for a US$8.4 billion licensing deal with US-based Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) – and profitable cancer-drug developer Betta Pharmaceuticals. Other initial public... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3327632/chinese-healthcare-biotech-firms-flock-hong-kong-ipos?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3327632/chinese-healthcare-biotech-firms-flock-hong-kong-ipos?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Oct 2025 08:30:13 +0000 Eric Ng Eric Ng American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s up to US$7.3 billion acquisition of next-generation weight loss drugs developer Metsera will encourage more research spending on innovative products in China but is unlikely to draw new players into the fray, according to analysts. The acquisition of the US company, together with other deals by global pharmaceutical firms, would encourage companies already developing obesity drugs – including those in China – to continue their investments, said the... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3326774/pfizers-metsera-acquisition-spur-chinese-search-next-generation-weight-loss-drugs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3326774/pfizers-metsera-acquisition-spur-chinese-search-next-generation-weight-loss-drugs?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Sep 2025 00:30:08 +0000 Eric Ng Eric Ng A pair of Hong Kong-listed mainland Chinese biotechnology firms are poised to turn a profit this year as their revenue from novel drugs finally outstrips costs related to research and development and marketing, according to analysts. “Chinese biotechs have matured significantly and are creating value for Chinese patients and government payers,” said Tony Ren, head of Asia healthcare research at Macquarie Capital, in a report on July 16. “[Some will] likely turn profitable soon and no longer rely... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3320623/innovent-beone-are-poised-profits-2025-milestone-chinese-biotech-start-ups?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3320623/innovent-beone-are-poised-profits-2025-milestone-chinese-biotech-start-ups?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Aug 2025 02:19:01 +0000 Eric Ng Eric Ng Beijing’s plan to publish China’s first list of innovative drugs eligible for coverage by commercial health insurance will draw keen interest from pharmaceutical companies, but is not a “magic wand”, as insurers lack sufficient incentives to provide the coverage, analysts said. The National Healthcare Security Administration, in charge of the state-run basic healthcare insurance scheme, said in a policy document on July 1 that it would publish the list this year, primarily including drugs that... https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3318950/chinas-plan-boost-drug-coverage-commercial-insurers-no-magic-wand-analysts-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3318950/chinas-plan-boost-drug-coverage-commercial-insurers-no-magic-wand-analysts-say?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Jul 2025 04:30:09 +0000