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Biomedicine: Geopolitics

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Biomedicine: Geopolitics
Learn about China’s biomedical breakthroughs, from cutting-edge pharmaceuticals to life-saving research, driving global health innovation.
President Xi Jinping attends a high-level reception to ring in the Lunar New Year at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on January 27, 2025. Photo: Xinhua
US-China relations

Opinion | China has Trump 2.0 to thank for emerging stronger in tech and trade

As intense US-China competition becomes the new normal, pressure has strengthened China’s capacity to adapt rather than deter it from its long-term ambitions.

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Biomedicine: Industry Trends

Harbour BioMed stake in US drug developer shows Chinese firms’ growing clout

Made in China 2025

Exclusive | China challenges US in AI drug race, but rivals still reliant on each other

Science

Structural biologist Alexey Amunts launches new research lab in Shenzhen

‘Shenzhen adds another dimension; it is a place where ideas do not remain ideas for long,’ Amunts says of new position.

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Alexey Amunts, who is internationally recognised for his breakthroughs in visualising life’s molecular machinery at near-atomic resolution, has joined China’s SMART academy in Shenzhen. Photo: Mia Zhao
Made in China 2025

Chinese biotechs strike a record US$136 billion in out-licensing deals in 2025

Chinese drug makers signed 157 out-licensing deals with global pharmaceutical firms last year versus 94 a year earlier.

Banking & finance

Global firms turn to M&A in EVs and biotech to deepen China investment: KPMG

Survey of multinational corporations finds optimism in life sciences, healthcare and manufacturing, with half forecasting revenue growth.

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United States

Are Chinese biotechs what the doctor ordered as Big Pharma faces ‘patent cliff’?

US drug makers are racing to plug looming ‘patent cliff’ revenue gaps – and increasingly they are turning to China biotechs.

US drugmakers are increasingly looking to Chinese biotechs as an answer to the revenue gaps left by the looming ‘patent cliff’. Illustration by Henry Wong
China’s private sector

BeOne Medicines names R&D chief Wang Lai as president amid global expansion

BeOne generated global revenue of about US$3.8 billion last year, driven by its flagship products Brukinsa and Tevimbra.

Made in China 2025

Chinese biotech Scizeng’s global licensing deal to yield up to US$1.44 billion

Yarrow Bioscience gets exclusive global rights for the GenSci098 therapy to treat thyroid eye disease and Graves’ disease.

Science

China overtakes US in medical research in science power shift: top publisher

Country is ‘now global leader in scientific publishing and output’, Fred Fenter, chief executive editor of Swiss-based Frontiers, says.

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In 2024, China accounted for half of the paper published in the medical field, according to an academic publisher. Photo: Shutterstock
China-Africa relations

China’s ‘health silk road’ in Africa gets a boost with insulin, pharma projects

Move to manufacture insulin locally is set against forecast of nearly 55 million Type 2 diabetes cases in sub-Saharan Africa by 2045.

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Nigeria is expected to produce insulin and HIV drugs in partnership with Chinese firms, while the Ivory Coast will similarly make antimalarial drugs and antibiotics. Photo: Shutterstock
China’s private sector

‘Quantity to quality’: what China’s next 5-year plan means for foreign investors

Beijing has pledged to open up even more to foreign investment. But some officials are becoming more selective about the projects they want.

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Baidu

Baidu-backed drug discovery start-up Biomap challenges Google’s AlphaFold

Biomap expects to double its revenue this year, co-founder and CEO Wei Liu says.

Biomedicine: Companies

Trump’s tariffs on imported drugs ‘not a big concern’ for China’s pharma firms

Chinese drug makers have ‘minimal sales exposure to the US’, Jefferies analysts say.

The Trump administration’s new 100 per cent tariff on any branded or patented pharmaceutical product takes effect on October 1. Photo: Shutterstock
US-China relations

Opinion | Why US-China health and drugs cooperation must top Trump-Xi agenda

The years-long impasse harms both nations and the world, and the stakes in global health security could not be higher.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
US-China tech war

Chinese 3D biomolecule imaging start-up aims for IPO in 2027

Shuimu BioSciences is the first Chinese company to develop its own cryo-electron microscopy machine, a vital tool in drug discovery.

Banking & finance

Global investment funds are tiptoeing into Hong Kong, aided by HKIC

“Geopolitics is not going away any time soon, but smart money needs to invest in the future,” the Hong Kong Investment Corporation’s CEO Clara Chan says.

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China technology

China’s biotech industry is gaining on the US. Can tariffs hold them back?

Pharmaceutical firms in China have grown fast, but geopolitics and a long head start could keep US-based leaders at industry apex - for now.

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Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
US-China trade war

China, US end Stockholm trade talks, diverge on timing of tariff pause extension

After third round of negotiations, China signals consensus is reached while US team says no agreement until President Trump approves.

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Hong Kong economy

Opinion | How Hong Kong can lead in patient-focused ethical AI healthcare

AI can improve disease detection, surgery accuracy and data management but healthcare professionals can do a lot of good that AI cannot.

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China manufacturing

China approving innovative drugs at record pace, shifting momentum from West

‘If we’re not careful, every drug could be made in China,’ warned former head of US Food and Drug Administration in May.

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Employees package medicine at a pharmaceutical company in China’s Shaanxi province. Photo: Xinhua
Science

China boosts Southeast Asian populations overlooked in Human Genome Project

Before China took a role in the research, fewer than 200 indigenous genomes from MSEA existed in global databases, according to Nature paper.

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Kunming Institute of Zoology is working to rectify the underrepresentation of mainland Southeast Asia populations in the Human Genome Project. Image: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence

XPrize founder Diamandis projects hope for AI, biotech amid US-China tech war

The entrepreneur says biotech should be less contentious than AI, as a breakthrough in Beijing is just as usable in Boston.

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Biomedicine: Companies

Chinese biotech firm secures Pfizer deal despite trade tensions

Pfizer will produce the drug, which targets lung and colorectal cancers, in the US and take a US$100 million stake in China’s 3SBio.

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Biomedicine: Companies

Chinese biotech giant sees strong US revenue despite trade tensions

The company, which has been targeted by Washington, saw US revenue jump 28 per cent in the first quarter, compared with 21 per cent globally.

WuXi AppTec’s demand in the US remains strong despite the trade war, first-quarter earnings show. Photo: Shutterstock
Quantum computing

Chinese quantum computing firm tackles breast cancer screenings, drug design

Hefei-based Origin Quantum has demonstrated its computer’s ability to process medical imaging data ‘exponentially faster’ than classical machines.

Scientists work on the Origin Wukong superconducting quantum computer. Photo: Origin Quantum
Biomedicine: Companies

Hutchmed weighs cancer drug’s supply-chain options amid trade war

Blood-cancer medicine, manufactured in the US, won conditional approval for sale in mainland China last month.

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New medical drugs

Trump’s tariffs: will Chinese pharmaceutical industry feel the pain?

With biotech firms caught in the crosshairs of Trump’s tariffs, the levy could prove to be a boon for domestic producers but a bane for exporters.

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