From May 29th to June 2nd, local time, the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting took place in Chicago.
As one of the most influential academic conferences in the field of oncology worldwide, the ASCO Annual Meeting brings together top scholars and cutting-edge research findings from all over the world. At this years conference, Chinese innovative drugs stood out, attracting attention from American media.
Chinas rise in the field of drug development has put pressure on the United States. The New York Times reported on May 30 that Chinas thriving biotechnology industry has raised concerns among the United States regarding the weakening of its dominance in this field.
Over the past few decades, ASCO has primarily showcased drug trials conducted in hospitals in the United States and Europe. However, at this years conference, signs of China becoming a powerful country in drug research and development were evident everywhere. Reports indicate that one of the most notable cases was that one of the five major reports presented at the conference involved clinical trials conducted solely in China. This seems to be a first.
According to information from the Medical Big Data Service Platform, MediFi, the HARMONi-6 study comparing Yervoy monoclonal antibody therapy with chemotherapy versus Tirliputinib therapy in the first-line treatment of lung squamous cell carcinoma, will be presented orally at the plenary session. This is the only Chinese study selected for presentation at this plenary session. This represents the first Chinese innovative drug to be featured at an ASCO plenary session in 61 years.
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This tells us that Chinas biotechnology industry has truly stepped onto the stage, said Otis Brawley, a professor at Johns Hopkins University who has participated in nearly 40 ASCO conferences.
The rapid development of biotechnology in China has once again triggered concerns among some Americans. The New York Times reports that an increasing number of American officials, executives, and doctors are worried that the transfer of drug innovation to China could pose dangerous risks for American researchers, patients, and those working in the field of biotechnology. They are concerned about losing control over new drugs, as well as about Americas loss of its long-term dominance in this area.
As Chinese companies produce a large number of patents, medical journal articles, and new clinical trials, American biotechnology startups say they struggle to keep up with Chinas pace, facing significant disadvantages.
I believe these concerns are reasonable and very realistic, said Robert Califf, former director of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The United States is facing a serious threat.
Meanwhile, American politicians continue to exaggerate the Chinese threat in the medical field. In April this year, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, said during a hearing that China is stealing our lunch.
In March this year, Chris Klomp, a senior advisor to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, claimed at a conservative political conference in the United States that the United States and China are engaged in a war over laboratories and life-saving medications in the fields of innovation and biotechnology.
Peter Marks, a former senior official at the FDA and now an executive at Eli Lilly, warned that the United States is overly dependent on China when it comes to generic drugs and pharmaceutical raw materials. He argued that Americas dependence on Chinese medications and Chinese pharmaceutical companies could potentially create a new Strait of Hormuz.
Last December, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the Biosecurity Act, which restricts U.S. federal agencies from entering into, extending, or renewing contracts with certain foreign biotechnology service providers.
However, at the same time, some people warn that curbing competition from China will result in Americans losing access to new drugs. They argue that, regardless of where the data comes from, the winner should always be the best option.
For patients, either there is improvement, or there isnt any improvement at all, said Bob Duggan, co-CEO of Miami-based biopharmaceutical company Summit Therapeutics.
According to reports, in 2022, Kangfang Biotech granted the rights to use its drug, Ivosiban, overseas to Summit. The total amount of this licensing agreement reached up to $5 billion, setting a new record for Chinese innovative drugs being exported overseas at that time. Currently, Summit is conducting separate research and testing of this drug in American patients, and it is also seeking to bring the drug to market in the United States and other regions around the world.
In the past few years, the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies have turned to China to expand their research and development capabilities. According to DealForma, which tracks pharmaceutical industry transactions, up to half of the major licensing agreements between large pharmaceutical companies and foreign parties involve drugs from China. This figure was virtually zero in the 2010s.
The New York Times states that this trend will be vividly demonstrated at the ASCO annual meeting. In addition to Yervoy, other reported developments include experimental cancer drugs that were invented and tested in China, and which have been brought under the control of large pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Merck, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
According to the NextPharma database, by 2025, the total value of deals involving the licensing of innovative drugs in China to foreign companies reached $135.655 billion. This makes China the country with the largest such deals worldwide, and the number has increased by nearly 10 times compared to 2021.
According to statistics from the National Medical Products Administration and relevant industry databases, the total amount of foreign licensing transactions for innovative drugs in China in the first quarter of 2026 exceeded $60 billion, nearly half of the total amount for the entire year of 2025.
It is reported that at this years ASCO annual meeting, 63 studies were selected for the LBA category (latest breakthrough abstracts). Among these, 13 studies from 12 companies originated from China, marking a record high. Additionally, 94 Chinese studies were selected for oral presentations, indicating a significant increase in the number of such studies over the past three years.
