EXCLUSIVE: When Drug Innovation Moves Offshore

The United States has spent decades treating pharmaceuticals as a globalised industry, optimised for efficiency and lower costs. For a long time, that seemed like a rational trade-off. Manufacturing shifted abroad, prices stayed competitive, and the country retained its reputation as the world’s centre of biomedical innovation.

That balance is beginning to change.

As of now, the US remains heavily dependent on China for active pharmaceutical ingredients and large portions of its manufacturing base. At the same time, China is becoming a major source of new drug discovery, with roughly one-third of compounds in American pipelines now originating in Chinese laboratories. The result is a more profound shift than many policymakers appear to recognise: dependence is moving upstream, from production to innovation itself.