A little known Chinese company made a medicine that defeated the world's largest selling medicines
A scene from a video from Akeso shows part of their production facilities. – Courtesy Akeso
China's Deepseek shocked the world by delivering unexpected innovation at an incredible price. But this disturbing trend is not limited to Big Tech: it happened quietly in the pharmaceutical sector.
In September, Akeso, a little-known Chinese Biotech Company, shook the biotech sector almost ten years ago with his new drug for lung cancer.
Ivonescimab, the new medicine, was found in a study in China to have surpassed Keytruda, the blockbuster medication developed by Merck who has achieved more than $ 130 billion in sale for the American colossus that has dominated cancer treatment.
Patients who were treated with Akeso's new drug did 11.1 months before their tumors started to grow again, compared to 5.8 months before Keytruda, according to clinical data released at the world conference on lung cancer, a top forum for top forum.
In the course of a few days at the beginning of September, early September, shares in California, established in California, are more than doubled to a record high, according to Refinitiv data. The company had a permit of the right to commercialize the new drug in North America and Europe.
At the time, although experts said it was a turning point for Chinese pharmaceutical companies, it was not noticed much outside the industry. That changed earlier this year after the depth of Deepseek, which drew international attention on the pockets of innovation in China – with growing global implications.
“I really believe that the Chinese biotech industry will play an important role worldwide. And we [will] Do more and more, “said Michelle Xia, the CEO of Akeso, last month in an interview with Biotechtv.
In a statement sent to CNN, Akeso said it was an “incredibly exciting moment” to see his drug Keytruda beating, the world's best -selling medication.
“The innovation of Akeso is driven by a deep understanding of disease biology and protein technology, while he benefits from the rapid development time and the abundance of top talent in China,” said it.
Until the 1980s, when China opened its economy, most pharmaceutical companies were in state ownership. During most of the past 40 years, Chinese biotech companies mainly replicated existing medicines, known as “me -too” medicines.
But in the last 10 years they have started innovating with more advanced drugs that can compete directly with the Western offer. And they have signed billions of dollars on license colors with Western partners to bring their products to the rest of the world.
AstraZeneca signed a $ 1.92 billion deal last year with the Chinese CSPC pharmaceutical group to develop cardiovascular medication, and Merck has an $ 2 billion agreement with the Chinese Hansoh -Farmaceutical about an experimental pill with weight loss.
“People were aware that the biotech industry grew very quickly in China, but very few saw it as a real threat to the best American innovators,” said Rebecca Liang, an analyst of pharmaceutical products at Ab Bernstein. “Now the threat really becomes, because you are starting to see this next generation of drugs that are a kind of jump.”
More of Akeso's production facilities – Akeso
According to a research memorandum published by HSBC Qianhai Securities earlier this month, China will be an innovation hub for the entire industry, with the number of license colors that jumped from only 46 in 2017 to more than 200 last year. The total deal amount was only $ 4 billion in 2017 and rose to $ 57 billion last year, said it.
And figures from Marke Intelligence Firm Mergermarket indicated that large pharmaceutical transactions worth $ 50 million or more with Chinese companies in 2024 grew almost 30% compared to the previous year.
CUI CUI, Managing Director of Healthcare Research for Jefferies, said that the research capacities and development efficiency of Chinese biotech companies catch up, thanks to factors such as strong government support, foreign investments and a wealth of domestic talent.
“In the past, [Chinese biotech] Be seen as only copycats, but in the future it might compete with the global best-in-class pharmaceutical companies, “CUI told CNN.
But although the performance of Akeso waves abroad, the debate in China is raging about the quality of generic medicines produced in its own country, which have the same active ingredients as patented medicines but much cheaper.
Distrust of the track record of medicine produced in the interior runs deep in China. Such concerns were trained in public last month on the alleged questionable quality of Chinese generic drugs, which led to an official investigation.
The Chinese health ruler then defended the safety of the medicines, and said that the probe was not substantiated. Various residents of Beijing told CNN last week that they were not familiar with Akeso or the new medicine and still preferred imported medicines.
“To be honest, I tend to choose the more expensive medicine. After all, you get what you pay for, “Gu Zhihao, a resident of Beijing, told CNN.
American investors and supervisors have previously questioned the quality of clinical test data collected in China. Liang said that the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rejected drugs in the past because the attitude of the process was 'not rigorous enough'.
The new drug from Akeso, which is not a generic, has been approved by the Chinese pharmaceutical regulator for some lung cancer patients. But it is still removed from being sold in the US.
A worldwide test is now in the making for later this year, which, according to CUI, could further prove its effectiveness. If the result is healthy, it would be further evidence of the steps that China made when developing advanced medicines.
CNN's Martha Zhou and Juliana Liu have contributed reporting.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account on CNN.com
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
