Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) secured 5.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer Inc./Biontech SE and Moderna Inc., officially including the mRNA-based vaccines in the country’s national immunization program on Aug. 5.

While U.S. President Donald Trump’s country-by-country reciprocal and newly negotiated tariffs go into effect today, a separate, global biopharma sector tariff of, possibly, 200% continues to loom over the sector. For many stakeholders, a biopharma sector tariff of even 25%, as first proposed by Trump, would be a disaster in the making, especially when combined with the pressures of Medicare price negotiations and the president’s escalation of most-favored-nation pricing.

South Korea’s pharmaceutical manufacturing reached an all-time high of ₩32.86 trillion (US$23 billion) in 2024, representing a 7.3% increase from 2023 and the highest on record since the country began count in 1998.

Thirty-six biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies sought a capital raise on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in the first half (H1) of 2025, a review by BioWorld found. Of those, 34 companies were from mainland 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. China’s out-licensing deals grew to represent 32% of global deals in the first half of 2025, according to a Jefferies report on China dealmaking.

Historically, Q2 has often been one of the strongest quarters for biopharma financing, but 2025’s figures suggest a more cautious investment climate. Biopharma companies raised $16.02 billion in the second quarter (Q2) of 2025, a modest increase from the $13.11 billion brought during Q1. While the uptick signals some recovery from Q1, the sector is still pacing well behind the highs of recent years.

Biopharma companies raised $7.38 billion across 99 transactions in June 2025, up from $5.55 billion in May and $2.4 billion in April. For the first half of the year (H1), total financings reached $28.74 billion, down 59% from the $70.32 billion raised during the same period in 2024. Although lower than the record-setting levels of 2020 and 2021, the current total aligns more closely with recent years, including $26.57 billion in the first half of 2022 and $30.57 billion in 2023.

Experts in mRNA convened at the Global Vaccine Forum (GVF) 2025 to weigh the present and future of vaccine technology, including emerging innovations in self-amplifying mRNA (sa-mRNA) and drug delivery platforms.

Cullinan Therapeutics Inc. swept up ex-China rights to a multiple myeloma (MM)-targeting BCMAxCD3 bispecific T-cell engager (TCE) velinotamig from Chongqing Genrix Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. via a potential $712 million deal June 4. The plan is to repurpose the cancer drug to autoimmune disease.