Signs that investors in wider world cottoning on to Chinese drugmaking potential

On Thursday, The Pharma Letter  reported that privately-held biotech startup Immunochina had become the latest Chinese venture to attract overseas investment as it raised 50 million renminbi ($7.5 million) in a funding round.

As if to prove that the wider world has picked up on the stream of investment going into drugmaking in China, prominent UK newspaper The Financial Times has today  written a piece on this trend, calling it a a “bet that Chinese-developed drugs can compete globally.”

The article reports that Chinese biotech groups are on target to raise about $10 billion this year from venture capital funding, initial public offerings and licensing deals with overseas pharma companies.