The 2022 pricing negotiations for innovative drugs organized by China’s National Healthcare Security Administration have slashed prices of included products by 60% on average, a level mostly unchanged from the 2021 round, although 36% more novel medicines were covered.

The firm’s Tecentriq has bounced back from recent setbacks with a pivotal success in the adjuvant liver cancer setting.

The short-notice reopening of the country made 2022 a tough year for the health sector in China, where divestments, cash crunches and commercial challenges abounded. Throughout the year, despite clinical trial activity continuing to blossom, multiple Chinese innovative drug developers faced setbacks in the US from regulatory rejections of oncology products. Meanwhile, others quietly scaled back their operations in China, hit by the negative impact of deep price cuts.

As the usual flurry of deals coincides with the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, AbbVie signed an mRNA pact with Anima and a cancer research tie-up with Immunome.