Keytruda, a cancer-immunotherapy medicine, ranks among the most lucrative drugs ever sold. Since its launch in 2014 it has raked in over $130bn in sales for Merck, its American maker, including $29.5bn last year. In September last year an experimental drug did what none had done before. In late-stage trials for non-small-cell lung cancer, it nearly doubled the time patients lived without the disease worsening—to 11.1 months, compared with 5.8 months for Keytruda.
The results were stunning. So too was the nationality of the company behind them. Akeso, a biotech firm, is Chinese. In recent months China’s progress in artificial intelligence has stunned the world. A quieter, yet equally significant shift is under way in biotech. China has long been known for churning out generic drugs, supplying raw ingredients and running clinical trials for the pharmaceutical world. But its drugmakers are now also at the cutting edge, producing innovative medicines that are cheaper than the ones they compete with. China has become the second-largest developer of new drugs, behind only America.

Full commentary : China is leaping ahead of America in the field of biotechnology.