In-person attendance at conferences and exhibitions across the Asia-Pacific region seems to be exceeding pre-pandemic levels, marking a robust rebound in business travel and a surge in tourism, especially in Japan.
While signs of post-COVID normalization are evident, the biopharma sector in the region has continued to be characterized over the past year by a complex mix of factors – some a hangover from the pandemic and others emerging independently.
Despite some improvement, lingering investor uncertainties continued to dominate the fundraising environment in China and South Korea, where few IPOs have occurred this year. This partly reflects wider macroeconomic factors, and heightened investor expectations following the coronavirus bonanza.
Long-simmering geopolitical tensions, notably between the US and China, have solidified with the planned US BIOSECURE Act, which casts a large shadow over business interactions and threatens the operations of targeted Chinese firms in the US.
Meanwhile, several major Japanese firms are cutting thousands of jobs precipitated by various company-specific factors such as major patent expirations and pipeline reprioritizations. Yet a reimbursement pricing environment long criticized for lacking incentive may have contributed, with prices continuing to be cut in regular revisions based on cost-effectiveness and sales expansion.
China’s general economic slowdown, along with ongoing challenges around reimbursement, formulary inclusion and price pressure, is scrubbing off some of the allure. One survey of European firms in China showed a sharp drop in business sentiment.
More positively, innovation in Korea and China continues to develop rapidly. This is marked by several major deals in which Western multinationals acquired most global rights to novel antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and oncology drugs – a scenario barely imaginable just five years ago.
Supported by favorable policies, regulatory frameworks and homegrown expertise and capabilities, China’s rapid rise as a source of global pharma innovation has been the most remarkable APAC success story of the past few years, and the large deals validate this. Obesity is now emerging as a new focus for regional research.
India continued to climb the innovation ladder as well, marked by rising international specialty sales. Top domestic executives in India are following in China’s footsteps over the next decade, moving from complex generics into more novel modalities and assets.
South Korea is also pursuing its innovation efforts, with the first US approval of a domestically originated oncology drug. However, some firms faced setbacks in globalization efforts with the return of novel assets by foreign partners following pipeline restructuring. The long-running doctors’ strike in South Korea also began to have a wider impact.
While there have been no sizeable APAC M&A deals since the last Scrip Asia 100, multiple asset-focused licensing transactions were dominated by Daiichi Sankyo and Merck & Co. in October 2023 for three oncology ADCs worth up to $22bn. Daiichi’s strategic pivot to cancer continues to be a huge area of success for the Japanese.
This introduction highlights only some of the top-line trends from the past year. We hope the carefully curated selection of data, articles and analyses in this year’s edition will provide deeper insights built on the expertise of our on-the-ground team, and aid your understanding of this vital, diverse and complex part of the biopharma world.
