Multinationals seek novel assets in China

By Wang Fangqing

As China is becoming an incubator for an increasing number of innovative biotech startups, multinationals are actively seeking potential novel assets to enrich their global pipelines, said speakers at the ChinaBio forum held recently in Shanghai, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent Wang Fangqing.

“We are looking for first class innovation, and we are open to flexible partnerships. We think there will be more licensing deals in the coming years in China where we see drastic changes in drug innovation in the past decade ,” said Min Wu, executive director of Asia Pacific innovation hub at MSD, the trading name for Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) outside of North America.