U.S. policy, China’s strategic rise, blockbuster deals and AI dominated South Korea’s biotechnology industry this year, with U.S. tariffs and the Biosecure Act’s hitch onto 2026 legislation serving as major topics of speculation.

China’s National Medical Products Administration approved Innovent Biologics Inc.’s NDA for Tabosun (ipilimumab N01, IBI-310) in combination with sintilimab as neoadjuvant treatment for stage IIB-III resectable microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair deficient colon cancer.

Simcere Zaiming Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has obtained clinical trial approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for SIM-0610 to be studied in patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors.

Speed and innovation from Asia Pacific’s (APAC) biotechnology sector had big pharma scouring the region for the next oncology heir to Keytruda (pembrolizumab), Merck & Co. Inc.’s reigning blockbuster cancer drug.

Abbisko Therapeutics Co. Ltd. and its partner Merck KGaA got an early Christmas present from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) with the approval of pimicotinib (ABSK-021), the first domestically developed systemic therapy for tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT).

Jacobio Pharmaceuticals Group Co. Ltd. is outlicensing its phase I pan-KRAS inhibitor, JAB-23E73, to Astrazeneca plc in a global deal worth up to $1.915 billion that gives Astrazeneca global rights to the compound outside of China, and the two companies will jointly develop and commercialize the asset in China.

Big pharma is increasingly shopping in China to fill its pipelines as it faces looming patent cliffs on major blockbusters coupled with growing pricing pressures on drugs. As previously reported by BioWorld, China’s out-licensing deals grew to represent 32% of global deals in the first half of 2025, up from 21% in 2024, and only 5% in 2020, Jefferies Hong Kong-based analyst Cui Cui wrote in a July 2025 report on China dealmaking.

Jacobio Pharmaceuticals Group Co. Ltd. is outlicensing its phase I pan-KRAS inhibitor, JAB-23E73, to Astrazeneca plc in a global deal worth up to $1.915 billion that gives Astrazeneca global rights to the compound outside of China, and the two companies will jointly develop and commercialize the asset in China.

Big pharma is increasingly shopping in China to fill its pipelines as it faces looming patent cliffs on major blockbusters coupled with growing pricing pressures on drugs. As previously reported by BioWorld, China’s out-licensing deals grew to represent 32% of global deals in the first half of 2025, up from 21% in 2024, and only 5% in 2020, Jefferies Hong Kong-based analyst Cui Cui wrote in a July 2025 report on China dealmaking.