The year 2025 that has passed can be described as magnificent and remarkable with outstanding enterprises shining brightly. Many innovative pharmaceutical companies delivered a satisfactory performance report to investors in 2025.
Established pharmaceutical giants including Hengrui Medicine, CSPC Pharmaceutical Group and Fosun Pharma have become the mainstay of BD globalization. They have successively closed large-scale BD transactions with overseas buyers. Meanwhile, biotech firms such as BeiGene, Innovent Biologics and Kone Bio have built on their past achievements. Beyond traditional license-out deals, they have pioneered diverse transaction models including NewCo, Co-Co and Royalty Monetization, capturing the attention of investors in both the primary and secondary markets.
When it comes to globalization, apart from innovative drug enterprises, domestic API companies are the true pioneers of overseas expansion. As early as the 1990s, many Chinese API companies embarked on the journey of going global, exporting high-quality API products to European and American markets. After years of development, China's API products have firmly secured a top-three market share in the global landscape.
When talking about innovative drugs, the frequently mentioned keywords include globalization, high gross margin, me-better, first-in-class and best-in-class. In contrast, the core keywords for China's API companies are high added value, multi-sector layout and large-scale production.
For China's pharmaceutical industry, innovative drugs, generic drugs and APIs each follow their own development logic and upgrading trends. The vigorous growth of the innovative drug sector is inseparable from the years of silent dedication of the API and generic drug industries. The industrial upgrading of innovative drugs will inevitably transmit its influence to the API sector in the future.
In 2026, China's API companies are poised to embrace a new competitive landscape, where the strong will grow stronger, and industrial reshuffling is quietly underway.
Similar to innovative pharmaceutical enterprises, domestic API companies have long embarked on the transformation journey and are about to usher in a valuation restructuring in the secondary market.
The upsurge of BD transactions in recent years reflects the patent cliff anxiety of multinational pharmaceutical corporations (MNCs). The patent expiration of a large number of blockbuster drugs will continuously drive rigid demand for generic drug APIs. In addition, the booming innovative drug R&D has fueled the demand for complex, high-value-added APIs. The market will witness a clear pattern of volume and price divergence, with specialty APIs and patented APIs becoming the core competitive battleground for all market players.
