Global Times publishes an op-ed by Cui Jisong: Innovative pharmaceutical companies must seize the industry’s value realization window

Recently, Global Times published an op-ed by Cui Jisong, detailing how innovative pharmaceutical companies can seize the industry’s value realization window.

Innovative pharmaceutical companies must seize the industry’s value realization window—Cui Jisong, Co-founder, Chairperson, and CEO of InnoCare Pharma

Currently, the global pharmaceutical landscape is undergoing restructuring, and Chinese innovative drugs are entering a phase of rapid international expansion. Starting in 2023, the global supply-demand dynamics for innovative drugs have shifted significantly, with these changes becoming especially pronounced in 2025, marking a concentrated period of value realization for industry innovation.

In recent years, multinational pharmaceutical companies have faced a wave of patent expirations and insufficient internal pipelines of new drugs, creating an urgent need to acquire differentiated innovative assets to fill their R&D gaps. China’s innovative drug sector, rooted in the 2015 reform of the drug review and approval system and supported by continuously optimized industrial policies, a comprehensive full-chain ecosystem, ample reserves of specialized talent, and steadily increasing R&D investment, has persistently focused on pioneering innovation, gradually building global competitiveness. A cohort of globally novel drug candidates with independent intellectual property rights is steadily advancing into international markets, driving cross-border licensing collaborations between Chinese and foreign pharmaceutical firms into a new phase characterized by larger deal sizes and deeper strategic dimensions.

Amid the wave of Chinese innovative drugs going global, InnoCare Pharma has consistently remained at the forefront. In 2025, InnoCare entered into a global collaboration exceeding USD 2 billion with Zenas BioPharma for its autoimmune disease pipeline. Its independently developed orelabrutinib, previously designated under China’s National Science and Technology Major Project for 'Major New Drug Creation,' is the world’s only BTK inhibitor to demonstrate efficacy in Phase II clinical trials for systemic lupus erythematosus.

The inclusion of innovative drugs among China’s 'new three champions' of high-quality exports reflects the accumulated strength of robust innovation capabilities and independent R&D prowess. After years of intensive research breakthroughs, domestic pharmaceutical companies have achieved a leapfrog advancement in R&D capabilities. Looking ahead, we anticipate steady progress in overseas clinical development and commercialization, continuously unlocking the global value of innovative Chinese medicines.

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