On an earnings conference call Tuesday, Bourla described concern around China’s “emerging superiority” in several areas, including biotech, as one of the “very few things” that unites Democrats and Republicans. However, lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives appear more worried about U.S. companies handing technology to Chinese firms than they are about the China-to-U.S. partnerships that have become increasingly common.

“The sensitivity is way more on things that we transfer there than vice versa,” Bourla said. Still, he cautioned drugmakers “need to be careful” because China is “very high on the radar” of U.S. policymakers.

China’s biotech sector has made rapid progress over the last decade, boosted by government support, regulatory flexibility and a skilled workforce that’s launched scores of homegrown companies. Growth has accelerated in recent years, culminating in an frenzy of dealmaking and drug research that’s challenging U.S. leadership in the life sciences.

A report published by the investment bank Jefferies last month found one-third of the money the drug industry spent on licensing deals in the first half of 2025 involved China-originated medicines, compared to 21% in 2023 and 2024 and single-digit percentages before that. Their tally included a multibillion-dollar deal inked with Shenyang-based 3SBio in May for a cancer drug Pfizer sees as critical to its future oncology plans.

On Tuesday’s conference call, Bourla ticked off other indicators of China’s biotech gains: China now rivals the U.S. in clinical trial activity, while Chinese scientists are responsible for a large share of scientific journal publications on CRISPR gene editing and structural biology. Chinese researchers have also filed more patents than their U.S. counterparts this year, Bourla added, which has helped draw private investment to the country’s biotechs.

“This is happening. It’s real,” Bourla said. “I’ve explained all of that to the [Trump] administration.”

By: DocMemory
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