Effective for lung Cancer medicine, big jump in company’s market cap
Now China’s influence is growing in the biotech industry. After the Deepsea moment, America is now facing a challenge here as well, like AI. Summit Therapeutics, backed by Bob Dugan, announced that its drug has performed better than Merck’s blockbuster therapy Keytruda in a lung Cancer medicine trial. Keytruda is the pharma industry’s best-selling drug.
The news, which spread like wildfire, has boosted Summit’s market cap by a billion dollars. The drug has reached the top of the biotech industry without US approval. Summit licensed the drug from an anonymous Chinese biotech company, Akeso, two years ago.
Disruption of the American ecosystem due to Chinese innovation
The American biotech industry is growing in hubs like Boston-Cambridge and the San Francisco Bay Area. Competition from China could make Cancer medicine drugs cheaper. For patients, this global competition is like a lottery. It doesn’t matter to these patients which country the drug was developed in. China is competing in all the areas where America dominates.
China’s participation in biotech industries increased sixfold in 4 years
China’s biotech technology has advanced rapidly in recent years. According to Dealpharma, China’s share of drug sales in the $50 billion-plus market in 2020 was less than 5 percent, but it is expected to reach nearly 30 percent by 2024. In this area, China is challenging the US from product to innovation.
Chinese scientist returns from America
Many Chinese scientists trained in the US have returned to China. This has led to the rise of biotech centers around Shanghai. Cancer medicine biotech companies are making cheap and effective products. Chinese companies are taking advantage of the low cost in clinical trials. Experts believe that just as the Chinese AI model DeepSeq is very cheap and fast, the products of Chinese biotech companies are cheap and effective. The cost of clinical trials here is very low compared to America. China has also simplified the rules of the trials.