TrackerCross-border deals
Drugs discovered in China are reshaping dealmaking. Track the licensing agreements here.
Western drugmakers have signed 37 licensing deals for China-originated medicines this year, already more than in all of 2025.
By Daniel OkaforPublished · 1 min read
A decade ago, licensing a drug from a Chinese laboratory was unusual enough to be a story in itself. This year it accounts for roughly a third of all licensing transactions by large pharmaceutical companies.
The reasons are practical. Early clinical studies can be run faster and at lower cost, the data increasingly holds up when repeated elsewhere, and prices are still below what a comparable U.S. asset would command.
The year so far
| Month | Deals | Upfront cash |
|---|---|---|
| January | 3 | $310M |
| February | 2 | $145M |
| March | 5 | $720M |
| April | 4 | $380M |
| May | 3 | $260M |
| June | 6 | $1.1B |
| July | 4 | $540M |
| August | 3 | $290M |
| September | 7 | $2.2B |
What buyers want
Oncology still leads, but the fastest-growing categories are obesity and autoimmune disease. Bispecific antibodies account for about one in four agreements.
The largest transaction this year remains Arden & Pryce's $1.4 billion upfront payment for a once-weekly obesity pill, announced in September.
This tracker is updated when new agreements are disclosed.
