CIIE 2025's report card: record-breaking licensing deals and global pharma's China partnership

At the recently concluded 2025 CIIE, multinational pharmaceutical and medtech giants collectively presented over 70 debut innovative drugs and medical devices. GE Healthcare alone introduced 18, making it the largest contributor of such products at this year's event.

Even more notably, 60% of these 18 debut products from GE Healthcare were led by its China R&D team. This includes the globally premiered Expert X New Quantum CT from its ultra-high-end quantum platform CT family. Reports indicate this is a high-end CT system entirely developed and manufactured by the China team, which builds upon the strengths of its predecessor with comprehensive, chain-wide upgrades and optimizations, making it better aligned with the clinical needs of Chinese patients.

In fact, numerous such "Made in China" innovations were featured on the booths of international device companies. For instance, Johnson & Johnson's booth showcased the Carina™ Laparoscopic Surgery Robot—the first Chinese-developed modular model from Ronovo Surgical—alongside fully locally produced ultrasonic scalpel systems from its Suzhou plant. In the Medtronic zone, the focus was on technologies co-developed with local partners, including an innovative navigation-guided spinal endoscopy technology with Keensea Medical and a novel neurosurgical robot-guided LITT (laser interstitial thermal therapy) therapy with GenLight MedTech.

In the innovative drug sector, the "China element" is increasingly prominent.

Take MSD (tradename of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA) as an example. It dedicated a specific zone at the CIIE to showcase collaboration achievements over the past three years with five Chinese pharmaceutical companies: Kelun-Biotech, Curon Biopharmaceutical, Hansoh Pharmaceutical, LaNova Medicines, and Hengrui Pharmaceuticals. Highlighted pipeline assets included key candidates such as SKB264, CN201, and LM-299.

AstraZeneca, another multinational with deep ties to Chinese biopharma, presented notable figures in its exhibition area: since 2023, it has entered into global licensing partnerships with 14 domestic Chinese innovative drug companies and has supported the global expansion of 28 local enterprises.

Thus, driven by an explosive growth in innovative drug and high-end medical device transactions in recent years, this year's CIIE has effectively become a "super showcase" for numerous international pharmaceutical and device companies to jointly present innovative products developed in collaboration with local partners.

Starting in 2023, a wave of licensing deals began sweeping China's innovative drug sector. That year, a total of 228 licensing transactions were recorded, with aggregate upfront payments reaching RMB 21.021 billion—surpassing the total funds raised via IPOs in the same period for the first time, establishing licensing as the primary funding mechanism for Chinese biotechs.

This momentum continued into 2024 and 2025. According to VCBeat statistics, the total value of out-licensing deals from Chinese innovative drug developers reached $48.448 billion in the first half of 2025 alone, nearly matching the full-year total for 2024.

Licensing is just the beginning; successful commercialization is the ultimate goal. Following the frequent out-licensing agreements, several notable outcomes have already emerged.

For instance, some innovative drugs have successfully gone global as a result. A prime example is zanubrutinib from BeOne Medicines (formerly known as BeiGene). After out-licensing its overseas development and commercialization rights to Novartis, the drug was rapidly launched in markets including the United States and Europe, and successfully surpassed the $1 billion sales milestone.

Other Chinese innovative drugs have accelerated their R&D progress through licensing deals. In May 2025, 3SBio entered into an agreement with Pfizer totaling over $6 billion, granting Pfizer global development, production, and commercialization rights for its PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody, SSGJ-707. The drug is now rapidly advancing in global multi-center Phase III clinical trials and is nearing market approval.

At this CIIE, successful licensing outcomes for innovative drugs were also prominently showcased. One debut was Zongertinib, the world's first oral targeted therapy for HER2-mutant lung cancer. This oncology asset was jointly developed and commercialized by Sino Biopharmaceutical and Boehringer Ingelheim, following a formal collaboration agreement in April 2024. After receiving approval in China in August 2025, its market prospects are highly anticipated.

Another representative case is the small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist ECC5004/AZD5004, co-developed by AstraZeneca and Eccogene. The partners sealed an out-licensing deal during the 2023 CIIE with a total potential value of up to $1.825 billion. The drug gained clinical trial approval in China in 2024 and subsequently initiated global Phase IIb trials, with the first patient successfully dosed in October of the same year—a milestone that triggered a $60 million payment to Eccogene. At this year's CIIE, ECC5004/AZD5004 was highlighted as a model example of AstraZeneca's collaboration with a Chinese biopharma company, drawing significant attention from industry professionals.

Additionally, other assets also stood out at this CIIE, including Roche's next-generation antibody-drug conjugate IBI3009, Sanofi's globally debuted Plozasiran injection, and the individualized cancer vaccine BNT316/ONC-201, jointly developed by BioNTech and Fosun Pharma.

The emergence of numerous out-licensing achievements signals that China's innovative drug sector has formally entered a new phase. Investment has become more rational, with international pharmaceutical companies now prioritizing the clinical value and global competitiveness of pipelines over mere market hype when in-licensing Chinese innovations. Furthermore, collaborations have evolved beyond simple transactional deals. With the emergence and rise of the NewCo model, multinationals are now forming deeper, more integrated partnerships with Chinese biotechs. Both parties share responsibility for pipeline development and subsequent commercialization, minimizing risk while maximizing mutual benefits.

This evolved deal-making logic found clear validation at this CIIE. Many multinational pharmaceutical companies demonstrated a heightened focus on promising early-stage pipelines from China and a marked preference for deeper collaboration models like NewCo. This approach, built on shared risk and reward, effectively integrates early-stage Chinese assets into their global strategic portfolios.

At the ZEISS booth during the CIIE, a camera lens with a distinctive golden sheen attracted significant attention from attendees. This unique appearance results from its innovative ZEISS Diamond Life Gold coating, a new plating technology developed to significantly enhance the lens's color purity and ease of cleaning. It is noteworthy that this is a product of local innovation in China. Furthermore, the booth featured three high-end ZEISS microscopes that had just rolled off the production line in September this year, all of which are now manufactured locally in China.

This represents just the tip of the iceberg. At the booth of endoscopy giant KARL STORZ, two imaging products—the Endoscopic Camera System and the 4K Endoscopic Camera System—are both produced at its Shanghai manufacturing base in China. The intraoperative neural monitoring system displayed at the Medtronic booth is also manufactured locally in China; related products have already been launched in the Japanese market, with plans for expansion into Southeast Asia and Europe. Additionally, the Asia-debuted "Made in China" dual-source photon-counting CT showcased at the event was developed and manufactured with the involvement of Siemens Healthineers' China R&D team, highlighting its strong local innovation DNA.

It is evident that the "localization" strategy of multinational device giants has evolved beyond simply introducing their own products to the Chinese market. Instead, they are now deeply integrating R&D, production, and supply chains within China, forming a complete closed loop. This shift positions local innovation as a new lever for driving their business growth.

This transformation is underpinned by several factors, foremost among them being the rapid rise and enhanced competitiveness of China's high-precision technologies.

Taking the surgical robotics sector—a key focus at this CIIE—as an example, China has not only achieved precision minimally invasive operations but has also reached or even surpassed international counterparts in critical functions such as AI-assisted diagnosis and remote control. Yuanhua Technology held a new product launch in the medical device exhibition area, introducing the KUNWU® Robotic Orthopaedic Surgical System. It is currently the world's only surgical robot capable of simultaneously covering multiple indications, including total hip and knee arthroplasty, unicompartmental knee arthroplasty, spinal screw placement, and trauma navigation. The system recently received approval from China's NMPA.

Secondly, China's robust manufacturing and supply chain capabilities provide efficient support for innovation translation—spanning from raw materials and core components to complete machine assembly. Leveraging their scale and synergy, these capabilities significantly reduce R&D and production costs, thereby accelerating the iteration and commercial deployment of high-end medical devices.

A case in point is Siemens Healthineers' ARTIS icono angiography system, featured at the CIIE. Ninety percent of its core components are produced and pre-assembled within a 200-kilometer supply chain radius around Shanghai. The entire process, from order placement to final assembly, takes just 28 days—nearly two months faster than production at its European facilities—while also achieving a 15% reduction in failure rates, demonstrating the reliability and efficiency of the Chinese supply chain.

Finally, the vast scale of the Chinese market cannot be overlooked. According to the China Medical Device Industry Blue Paper (2024), the market size of China's medical device industry reached RMB 1,032.8 billion in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 5.07%, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.12% from 2016 to 2023. Zooming into specific segments, the market size for medical imaging equipment in China has already exceeded RMB 100 billion and is projected to surpass RMB 200 billion by 2030, with an expected CAGR of around 12%.

Consequently, numerous heads of global medical device giants emphasized at this CIIE that China has now become their second-largest global market. They shared a clear consensus: only by further committing to localization—fully embedding R&D, production, supply chains, talent, services, and even the broader innovation ecosystem within China—can they genuinely capture the new opportunities emerging in the Chinese innovative device market and maximize their returns.

Collaboration between Chinese and global pharmaceutical and medtech companies has always been a founding purpose of the CIIE and remains a key focus each year. This year is no exception, with the momentum of cooperation growing even stronger.

In the medical device sector, Sinopharm signed over 10 import procurement agreements with world-leading companies during the CIIE, including Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, Terumo, GE Healthcare, Philips, Siemens Healthineers, B. Braun, LivaNova, Varian, Bayer, Edwards Lifesciences, and Agilent Technologies. These deals achieved significant transaction volumes across segments such as medical devices and high-end medical equipment manufacturing.

Furthermore, Medtronic entered into a long-term strategic collaboration with Cardioacc focusing on the commercialization and therapy promotion of intracardiac ultrasound imaging catheters in mainland China. The partners will jointly advance the local production and market launch of core products in the future.

In the innovative drug sector, collaboration is even more vigorous. During the CIIE, AstraZeneca announced the signing of a cooperation agreement with the Qingdao High-tech Industrial Development Zone Management Committee, involving an additional investment of approximately $136 million to expand the production capacity of its Qingdao supply base. Novo Nordisk entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with the Shanghai Academy of Clinical Translation and Innovation Science (ACITS), with both parties planning to conduct multi-faceted collaboration in clinical and translational research to accelerate the translation of clinical innovations into practical applications in Shanghai. Sanofi, in partnership with Cathay Capital, established a RMB 2 billion "Sanofi Cathay Capital Healthcare Innovation Fund," which has already signed a strategic agreement with Chinese company Embios to jointly develop new drugs for autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases.

These represent only the publicly announced collaborations; many more may be underway behind the scenes. Collectively, they illustrate a clear trend: international pharmaceutical and medtech companies are significantly increasing their investment in the Chinese market and continuously implementing localization strategies. This reflects the rapidly growing value and global recognition of China's healthcare innovations. At the same time, the rapidly expanding and stable Chinese healthcare market is widely regarded by international firms as an indispensable component of their global strategic footprint.

Against this backdrop, Chinese domestic pharmaceutical and medtech companies are facing unprecedented development opportunities. By successfully leveraging and deepening collaborations with international giants, they have the potential to achieve leapfrog development and secure key positions in the restructuring of the global industrial chain. Conversely, those who fail to do so risk missing out amid the wave of globalization, becoming marginalized by intensifying international competition, or even facing survival crises under the dual pressures of technological iteration and market barriers.

At the inaugural CIIE in 2018, while multinational pharmaceutical companies expressed strong interest in the Chinese market, their answers were largely negative regarding conducting clinical trials—especially early-phase trials—in China, making specialized investments in cancers with high incidence in China such as liver cancer and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, or appointing Chinese experts as principal investigators (PIs) for large international studies.

Today, this stance has shifted markedly, with multinational corporations adopting increasingly proactive and assertive strategies in China.