The Chinese pharmaceutical sector has significantly outperformed the broader market this year, driven by strong sales growth and a rapid increase in income from licensing drugs to international partners, according to HSBC.
The H-share innovative drug index has risen 107 per cent so far, compared with a 30 per cent gain in the broader Hang Seng Index. Meanwhile, the A-share pharmaceutical index was up 23 per cent, versus a 16 per cent increase in the CSI 300 index, according to a report published by the bank on September 30.
Chinese pharmaceutical companies’ licensing deals made up about 50 per cent of the total value of such transactions worldwide in the first eight months of the year, up from 30 per cent in 2024 and almost none in 2018, according to HSBC.
The strong growth momentum was expected to continue, HSBC said.
The bank expected an average of 10 per cent product sales growth and 11 per cent earnings growth in 2025 for the pharmaceutical companies it covered, including Jiangsu Hengrui and Sino Biopharmaceutical.
HSBC also expected income from business development to grow, given that global leading pharmaceutical companies were increasingly recognising the value of their drug pipelines and the licensing deals signed in the first half of this year. Going global would continue for the rest of this year, the bank said.
