(Yicai) March 9 — China’s government work report this year listed biomedicine as a new pillar industry for the first time, underscoring the sector’s rising strategic importance as a group of female executives drives Chinese innovative drugmakers to expand globally and reshape the industry landscape.
Although women lead only about 16 of the 163 companies listed in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector of the Hong Kong stock market — less than 10 percent — their influence in the industry has grown significantly amid China’s push to accelerate drug innovation and global expansion.
In 2024, the PD-1/vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) bispecific antibody ivonescimab, developed by Akeso under the leadership of Chairwoman Xia Yu, was approved for sale in China. The drug became the world’s first to outperform Merck’s Keytruda in a head-to-head Phase III clinical trial, triggering a rush among multinational pharmaceutical companies to acquire related pipelines.
Meanwhile, Zhong Huijuan, founder of Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group, saw her wealth double within a year to CNY160 billion (USD23.2 billion), becoming the first woman from China’s life sciences sector to top the Hurun Rich List.
Return of Overseas Scientists
The rise of female leaders in China’s biotech sector is closely linked to the country’s drug approval reforms. Before China overhauled its drug review system in 2015, imported medicines were typically approved five to seven years later than in developed markets. After the reforms, overseas Chinese female scientists such as Xia Yu, Cui Jisong, chairwoman of InnoCare Pharma, and Du Ying, chairwoman of Zai Lab, returned to China to establish or lead innovative drug companies.
After navigating difficult early-stage development periods, many of these companies are now seeing strong growth. InnoCare Pharma is expected to report revenue of CNY2.4 billion (USD348 million) last year, a jump of about 134 percent from the previous year and its first annual profit. At Hansoh, innovative medicines accounted for almost 83 percent of total revenue.
China approved 76 innovative drugs for market entry last year, while the total value of licensing deals with overseas markets exceeded USD130 billion. Companies led by female executives contributed significantly to these achievements.
Zhang Yong, managing partner at Lize Capital, told Yicai that when selecting investment targets among innovative pharmaceutical companies, the firm does not prioritize the gender of executives. However, he noted that female leaders often demonstrate greater resilience and meticulousness than their male counterparts, qualities that can be advantageous in a highly competitive and challenging industry.
InnoCare’s Cui Jisong said women often combine rigorous scientific thinking with strong humanistic awareness, enabling them to better balance research and development efficiency with patient needs. In the biomedicine sector, this is reflected in deeper insights into unmet clinical needs and in building innovative corporate cultures that place greater emphasis on teamwork.
As Chinese innovative drugmakers pursue international expansion, Akeso’s Xia Yu said globalizing China’s drug industry requires far more than licensing products abroad. Companies must build capabilities across original innovation, international talent recruitment, and global R&D and commercialization systems.
“The biggest challenge now is that leaders must have both the courage for original innovation and the ability to integrate the entire industrial chain, promoting deeper integration between the innovation chain, industrial chain, and capital chain,” Cui Jisong said.
Editor: Emmi Laine
