China closing in but US leads in biotech quality, commercial reach, survey finds
A new Reuters survey of biotech executives finds the United States retains an edge in therapeutic quality and commercial reach, while China is rapidly closing the gap.
Julian Vance·updated June 23, 2026
What the survey captures
Per Reuters, US biotech still leads on quality benchmarks and downstream commercial infrastructure. China scores strongly on cost structure and regulatory adaptability, which the report frames as the primary vector of convergence. The exact methodology, respondent pool, and weighting were not disclosed in the available coverage, so we treat the ranking as directional rather than definitive. Cross-border licensing volume sharpens the picture: transactions reached roughly US$136 billion in 2025, up from under US$5 billion in 2020, according to figures cited by US lawmakers in related testimony.
Deals driving the policy response
Two transactions catalyzed the current debate. Bristol Myers Squibb partnered with Hengrui Pharma in an agreement valued up to US$15.2 billion; Pfizer struck a US$10.5 billion oncology deal with Innovent Biologics. On 2 June 2026, Representatives John Moolenaar (R-Mich) and Debbie Dingell (D-Mich) introduced the bipartisan Biotech Investment National Security Act (BINSA). The bill would extend national-security screening—previously scoped under the 2025 COINS Act and the BIOSECURE Act—to private-sector pharmaceutical transactions with Chinese entities, covering drug development, biologics manufacturing, and clinical R&D. Agricultural biotechnology, industrial fermentation, and basic academic research would remain outside the new review perimeter.
What to monitor
For the longevity sector, two variables are worth tracking. First, supply-chain localization: if BINSA advances, domestic biologics manufacturing capacity may need to be rebuilt, which could compress near-term availability of antibody-based and other biologic therapeutics relevant to age-related disease. Second, partnership velocity: any chill on outbound licensing may slow the flow of candidate compounds emerging from Chinese discovery platforms into US clinical pipelines.
Separately, Korea is fielding roughly 350 firms at BIO 2026 to court AI partnerships and diversify away from China exposure—an early indicator that the geopolitical rebalancing is already reshaping conference-level deal flow. The evidence base remains thin on the Reuters survey's underlying cohort, and we will update our read as the full methodology surfaces.