Danish pharma giant Novo licensed a weight-loss treatment developed by a Chinese firm, highlighting advances in China’s increasingly cutting-edge biotech sector.
The firm behind the treatment, Hengrui Pharma, last year reached an even bigger agreement with GSK for the development of new drugs across multiple areas, including cancer; Novo has also previously signed a deal with another Chinese company for a different weight-loss drug.
The agreements cement a remarkable transformation: “Within living memory, China sent barefoot doctors into the countryside with herbal remedies and antibiotics in army-green satchels,” Kaiser Kuo of the Sinica Podcast noted, whereas AstraZeneca’s chief financial officer recently told Semafor that it is now “only a question of time” before Chinese pharma companies challenge global firms.