A worker is working on a drug production line at the production workshop of a pharmaceutical company in Meishan, China, on January 30, 2024.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
A little-known biotech company stunned the biopharmaceutical industry last spring when it declared an “unprecedented” achievement: its experimental cancer drug looked more effective than Merck‘s Keytruda in a clinical trial. The company, Summit Therapeutics, licensed the drug from Chinese company Akeso Inc.Â
In October, a group of life science investors announced they were putting $400 million into creating a company called Kailera Therapeutics that would develop experimental obesity drugs it bought from Chinese company Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals.
Then in a matter of days in December, Merck disclosed it would license a potential competitor to Summit’s drug and a separate experimental obesity pill – both from Chinese companies.Â
Suddenly, U.S. companies…
