Europe risks ‘being left behind’ as China fills global pharma pipeline gaps
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10 Mar 2026, 5:32 am
European companies are facing the risk of being left behind as major global pharmaceutical brands are increasingly turning to China to fill pipeline gaps, according to experts at Pinsent Masons.
China’s pharmaceutical industry in the second largest in the world, behind only the US, and is expected to reach over US$2 trillion in revenue by 2030. Europe’s revenue, in comparison, is projected to reach US$688 million, while the UK’s is projected to reach just over US$90m in the same period.
Speaking at an event hosted by Pinsent Masons and Han Kun Law, life sciences transactions expert Alistair Booth of Pinsent Masons said: “Major global pharmaceutical companies are turning to China to fill pipeline gaps and European companies risk being left behind.”
“The top 20 multinational companies increased deals with Chinese companies to US$6.92 billion in 2025, a 40% increase, driven by the global patent cliff expiring,” he said.
“Recent megadeals, such as Takeda–Innovent, AstraZeneca–CSPC, GSK–Hengrui and Novo Nordisk–United Labs, show that European and UK pharma are already actively partnering, but competition for access to Chinese innovation is intensifying.”
US$236bn worth of patents on high-revenue pharmaceutical products are expiring by 2030, opening opportunities for the production of similar and cheaper versions by other companies, representing at least US$173.9bn in annual sales by 2032.
Kiah York, an expert in intellectual property (IP) transactions at Pinsent Masons, said: “China is no longer just a commercialisation market, it is now a major global source of innovation.”
“From 2025 data, China-related transactions accounted for roughly 50% of global pharmaceutical deal value, driven overwhelmingly by license-out deals of early-stage assets,”
“Chinese biotech has rapidly expanded research and development (R&D) capabilities, with first-in-class innovation rising above 30% and early-stage projects representing 68% of all license outs.”
‘License-out’ deals are when companies granting the rights to manufacture, market or develop their products to others. China biopharma companies signed 157 such deals, worth US$135.7bn, throughout 2025, more than double the total value of similar transactions in 2024.
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