Media365
Chinese drug makers put on a brave face in the wake of a report that said the Trump administration was considering new restrictions on China-developed medicines, citing the country’s supply chain and cost advantages, according to executives at a forum in Hong Kong on Thursday.
While shares of Hong Kong-listed Chinese drug makers plunged after Thursday’s New York Times report that the US government was drafting an executive order to curb licensing deals with China-based firms, pharmaceutical executives at BioHK 2025, a conference of industry delegates and investors, said the fallout could be managed.
Zhou Chao, CEO of Grand Pharmaceutical Group, said during a panel discussion that he doubted whether the US government would be able to issue such an executive order because it would involve many parties.
Major pharmaceutical giants – including Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb – have been buying rights to drugs developed in China for common diseases like obesity and heart disease in deals known as “licensing out”.
Zhou said Grand Pharma’s cancer-treatment drugs were on par with those from global giants in the US. He said Grand Pharma, which generated nearly US$200 million in revenue from the American market, would continue to conduct clinical trials and develop new drugs in the US.
The company’s shares lost 3.2 per cent on Thursday, but its stock price has nearly doubled in 2025.
