The biotechnology industry is experiencing a tectonic shift, driven by Chinese drugmakers who have come a long way from their copycat days to challenge Western dominance on innovation. The number of novel drugs in China — for cancer, weight-loss and more — entering into development ballooned to over 1,250 last year, far surpassing the European Union and nearly catching up to the US’s count of about 1,440, an exclusive Bloomberg News analysis showed. And the drug candidates from the land once notorious for cheap knock-offs and quality issues are increasingly clearing high bars to win recognition from both drug regulators and Western pharmaceutical giants. The findings, gleaned from an analysis of a database maintained by pharma intelligence solutions provider Norstella, show a fundamental shift in medical innovation’s center of gravity. With President Donald Trump already threatening tariffs on the pharmaceutical sector, China’s biotech advances — the scale of which is slowly coming into view — risk becoming another realm of superpower rivalry like artificial intelligence and electric vehicles. “The scale itself is not something we’ve seen before,” said Helen Chen, managing partner at LEK Consulting in Shanghai, who has advised healthcare companies on their China strategy since 2003. “The products are here, they’re attractive and they’re fast.”

Full in-depth : Chinese biotech’s advance has been as ferocious as the nation’s breakthrough efforts in AI and EVs, eclipsing the EU and catching up to the US.