Why Chinese Biotech Licensing Deals Became Attractive to US Investors

Earlier this year, a report from Pharmaceutical Executive detailed the ways in which China is becoming an essential R&D partner for pharma and biotech companies. According to the report, $43 billion in licensing agreements with Chinese companies was announced in just the first five months of 2026.

Also this year, a bipartisan effort launched in Congress to pass a bill that would add biotech the Treasury’s outbound investment screening list. As part of this initiative, the Treasury would decide if agreements and investments with foreign companies, entities, or governments could pose a national security risk.

Pharmaceutical Executive spoke with John Standford, executive director of Incubate, about the rise of China as an R&D partner and the US government’s responses. According to him, years of investment in biotech innovation is starting to pay off for the country, and the US’ response is going to require a larger effort to solve our own issues first.

Pharmaceutical Executive: Why have Chinese biotech licensing deals become so attractive to US investors?
John Stanford: The surge of interest in Chinese licensing is the product of two decades of deliberate investment. China had a very stated objective—not just to be a cheap supplier, but to edge into innovative industries. That investment is now paying off. The same way the Bayh-Dole Act and sustained NIH funding gave the US four decades of biomedical success, China followed that playbook, invested consistently, and is now beginning to see the results.

So instead of the copycats, stolen IP, and other very real IP concerns of the last couple of decades, the reality today is that Chinese innovation is bringing genuinely new molecules and modalities to market, and global players are taking note. We have seen a significant step up in interest from not just US but global pharmaceutical companies in acquiring rights to those assets.

This is something the entire industry needs to reckon with. This is not the China of yesteryear. This is not merely an adequate competitor. This is a country seeking to dominate the industry, and the transformation will be significant over the next few decades, because we can only expect their innovation capabilities to continue improving.