itstargetnews
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca will list on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, days after announcing a major commitment on the other side of the world.
Like other big pharma companies, the company has a balancing act. It hopes to build close ties with the United States, its biggest market, and the listing is aimed at boosting investment there.
At the same time, innovation-friendly China is attracting pharmaceutical companies desperate to develop new drugs to replace blockbuster drugs whose patents are set to expire in the next few years. Pricing challenges in the United States add to the pressure.
AstraZeneca Just ahead of its U.S. launch on Monday, the company announced it would invest billions of dollars in China and partner with a Chinese biotech company to develop a weight-loss drug.
These developments come at a critical time for the pharmaceutical industry, as companies increasingly look to the East for innovation to replace current revenues Patents on blockbuster drugs are about to expire over the next few years. Pricing challenges in the US marketAccounting for the bulk of most Big Pharma profits, it is adding to pressure on Big Pharma.
On January 29, 2026, Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer shook hands before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Carr Court | AFP | Getty Images
On Thursday, AstraZeneca said it planned to invest $15 billion in China by 2030 to expand manufacturing and research and development, as Keir Starmer became the first British prime minister to visit the country. Eight years.
“These investments span the value chain from drug discovery to clinical development to manufacturing and bring Chinese innovation to the world,” the company said, while highlighting a range of other partnerships with other biotech companies in the region.
In a separate announcement on Friday, Britain’s largest company will partner with Hong Kong-listed company CSPC Pharmaceutical Group It then strengthened its obesity portfolio. The collaboration agreement includes CSPC’s eight preclinical and early-stage programs, including monthly injectables. CSP shares fell 10.2% after the news was announced.
AstraZeneca will pay CSPC $1.2 billion upfront and an additional $17.3 billion if certain regulatory, research and sales milestones are met, an AstraZeneca spokesperson confirmed to CNBC on Friday. The company declined to comment further on its geographic priorities.
The announcements come after AstraZeneca shares debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday and the recent US investment of US$50 billion Exemption from U.S. drug tariffs.
“What we can see from this is that the U.S. and China will be the two most important regions for the company for the foreseeable future,” Rhenman & Partners portfolio manager Camilla Oxhamre told CNBC via email.
AstraZeneca’s balancing act
The United States is AstraZeneca’s biggest market by far, and the company said last year it would end its American depositary share program to seek Direct New York Stock Exchange listed, and continues to list in London and Stockholm, and expressed hope for more Global investor base.
“It is (China’s) largest pharmaceutical company and when they decided to list in the U.S., there was always going to be some question in some people’s minds about their commitment to China and the fact that they had some investigations last year,” Rajesh Kumar, head of European life sciences and healthcare equity research at HSBC, told CNBC. AstraZeneca faces multiple investigations by Chinese regulators in 2025 Unpaid import duties.
“So they are actually telling you very clearly that they are committed to China through this action,” Kumar added.
China is also AstraZeneca’s second-largest market. Oxhamre’s funds hold a large long position in Astra, he added The Chinese market “will continue to grow in importance in terms of revenue and research over time.”
Astra is not the only pharmaceutical company looking to China for new innovative assets. London-listed company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) signed an agreement with Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Worth up to $12 billion in Julymost of which are related to achieving certain development and commercial milestones.
China’s Hot Biotech Scene
Licensing deals between big pharma and Chinese biotechs, such as the one between AstraZeneca and CSPC, have increased dramatically in recent years, with 57 such deals expected by 2025, according to Biopharma Dive.
“These deals demonstrate the success of China’s long-standing efforts to move up the biopharma value chain from fast followers to differentiated assets capable of competing globally,” PitchBook analysts said in a report last month.
China’s emergence as a leader in preclinical and early-stage development comes as biotech funding elsewhere has taken a hit in recent years, and the speed with which early human trials are being conducted there has also helped. Kumar said the reverse brain drain of Chinese scientists returning home could also help the country’s biotech industry.
“China’s biopharmaceutical industry has reshaped itself around next-generation therapies, complemented by efficient clinical trial infrastructure to de-risk these assets,” PitchBook analysts said.
“Multinational and mid-sized biopharmaceutical companies are sourcing assets from China at an increasing rate, including both large deals and smaller licensing deals. Importantly, this activity is skewed toward complex biologics rather than traditional models.”
A June report from Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs noted that “China has the most immediate opportunity Overtaking the U.S. in biotechnology” and this could “rapidly alter the global balance of power.”
But at the end of 2025, U.S. biotech funding increased significantly.
“There will always be innovation in both regions,” Kumar said. “The world has changed…China is catching up with the United States, and the United States will accelerate again.”
—CNBC’s Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report
