China's licensing boom reshapes global pharma power

Record-breaking BD deals reflect Beijing's innovative assets are gaining massive international recognition.

The Chinese pharmaceutical industry is undergoing a seismic shift, transforming from a supplier of generic drugs into a primary source of high-value innovation.

The sheer scale and speed of its innovative drugs being licensed out—known as Business Development (BD) authorisation—is driving unprecedented growth, positioning China as a critical hub for global healthcare stakeholders, according to Chen Ying, a senior industry researcher at the China National Pharmaceutical Industry Information Center.

Speaking at the 40th China Pharmaceutical Industry Market Information Conference held during API China 2025 in Chongqing, Ying said that the total transaction amount for overseas BD surged from $2.49b (CNY 17.7b) in 2015 to $60.07b (CNY 429.1b) by 2024.

This growth reflects a "high compound annual growth rate of around 42%," demonstrating a dramatic exponential expansion in value recognition.

This growth trajectory became an outright explosion in 2025. In just the first eight months, the overseas expansion of domestic innovative drugs showed an unprecedented surge.

Ying noted that the total authorised amount for foreign exchange reached $87.4b, which far exceeded the total of last year. This surge is not just about volume; it is about quality and valuation, with the proportion of down payment rising dramatically, suggesting that China’s projects in international negotiations have "strong bargaining power and high-quality assets."

The market is being redefined by large-scale, record-breaking transactions. In the first eight months of 2025 alone, 21 transactions exceeded $1b, almost matching the total of 23 from the entire year of 2024. Furthermore, the total value of these top-tier deals reached $46.7b, an increase of 1.5 times the 2024 total.

The researcher highlighted a record-setting single BD transaction, a deal that reached a total amount of up to $13b. These figures prove that "the value of China's innovative drugs has gained international recognition."

For business stakeholders, this shift means that China is now a primary, rather than secondary, source of advanced pharmaceutical pipelines. The era where Chinese firms merely served as suppliers of APIs and generic drugs is over.

Ying said that China is now "more driven by innovation... with stronger capabilities, we have stepped onto the global stage." Given the current success rate, in the future, "60 to 70 or even more Chinese innovative drugs will enter the overseas market, occupying a share of the European and American Pharmaceutical markets of about 25% to 30%."

This makes BD licensing "not only a practical pathway for the internationalisation of China's innovative drugs, but also a key strategy for the pharmaceutical industry in the next decade to achieve sustained growth."

CNY1 = $0.14