Dexter Yan talks about his September interview with Sharon Barr, AstraZeneca’s executive vice president, Biopharmaceuticals R&D. Hu Xu shares her articles on Sciwind’s ecnoglutide Phase III results and a Chinese law firm’s view on the proposed US BIOSECURE Act.

China recently made strategic moves to allow direct foreign investments into cell and gene therapy development, as well as into hospitals in certain cities and regions across the country. Foreign firms are generally optimistic despite some challenges.

Chinese firm Sciwind has revealed additional Phase III findings for its promising once-weekly GLP-1 agonist ecnoglutide, just one asset in a burgeoning Chinese sector that could see the emergence of new rivals to current global leaders in obesity and diabetes.

With the US BIOSECURE Act waiting for a Senate vote, there are signs it may be prompting some Chinese firms to look at their operations. In the meantime, two legal experts in China suggest a range of coping strategies for companies that may be deemed "of concern."

Pipelines in bioconjugates continue to develop, from ADCs to XDCs, with radionuclide drug conjugates (RDCs) and antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates (AOCs) leading the expansion.

Also including deals between EpimAb/Vignette, Allist/Jacobio, Rigel/Kissei, Simcere/TargetRx, Altamira/Nuance, PharmaEssentia/Forus and Chugai/LTL.