(Yicai) July 13 -- China’s innovative pharmaceutical sector is fast-gaining global recognition, with outbound licensing deals for Chinese-developed drugs approaching last year’s total within just the first half of this year.

Chinese drugmakers licensed nearly USD110 billion of novel treatments to overseas peers in the six months ended June 30, a spokesperson for the National Medical Products Administration’s drug regulation section said at a forum yesterday. Last year's total was USD135.7 billion.

China approved 38 innovative drugs in the first half, 11 of which were first-in-class, featuring new targets and new mechanisms. All of them were developed in the country. While China approved 76 novel drugs last year, only four of the 11 with new targets or mechanisms originated from domestic developers.

“There were many highlights among the new drugs approved in the first half,” the spokesperson noted. “For example, we approved the world's first bispecific antibody-drug conjugate, chimeric antigen receptor-T cell therapy for solid tumors, and monoclonal antibody targeting both hepatitis B and hepatitis D, as well as the country's first self-developed radioactive drug.

“These milestones signal that China is advancing toward becoming a major country in the research and development of innovative drugs,” the person added.

An official from the medical service management department of the National Healthcare Security Administration outlined future steps at the forum.

The NHSA plans to optimize rules governing adjustments to the medical insurance drug catalog, promote a real-world evaluation system for medical insurance, strengthen evidence-based support, expand payment channels, and enhance international exchange to build consensus and establish shared evaluation standards, all with the aim of better supporting genuine and differentiated innovation, they said.

Editor: Futura Costaglione