As the rollout of volume-based procurement to more products brings more pain, drug makers are exploring different China strategies. One indicator, though, is clear - local innovation and distribution can’t be ignored anymore.

In new data from Chinese developers at ESMO, Kelun/Merck’s Trop2-targeting ADC SKB264 (MK-2870) appears ready to hog the limelight from Daiichi Sankyo/AstraZeneca’s Dato-DXd, while Hansoh’s B7-H4-targeting HS-20089 is coming to the fore against its global same-class competitors. There were also new clinical results for Mabwell/Hengrui’s Nectin-4-targeting 9MW2821 and HER2-targeting SHR-A1811.

At least one major Chinese supplier is being tapped to relieve a shortage of certain drugs in the US despite rising Beijing-Washington tensions, but China may be increasingly unwilling to co-operate amid its own shifting economic priorities, increasingly introspective policies and some shortages of its own. 

In the Chinese pharmaceutical market, sales of anti-tumor drugs have been showing a steady growth trend in recent years as cancer patient numbers continue to rise.