Pharmaceutical and Biological Industry Weekly Report (4th Week of June): Domestic Original Therapies Enter a New Stage

On a single day in late June, two Chinese biotech companies changed the calculus for an entire industry.

Biokin and CARsgen Therapeutics announced on June 22 that their respective breakthrough products had received domestic approval for market launch. One is the world's first bispecific antibody-drug conjugate. The other is the world's first CAR-T therapy targeting solid tumors.

Both arrived on the same day. Neither was a me-too drug.

For years, Chinese pharmaceutical companies have been labeled fast followers—companies that replicate Western innovations at lower cost. The dual approvals signal something different.

The Numbers Behind the Shift

The week of June 22 to June 26 told a mixed story for China's pharmaceutical and biological sector. The broader index fell 1.47%, roughly in line with the CSI 300's 1.48% decline and the Wind All-A index's 1.4% drop.

But beneath the surface, the rotation was striking. Medical R&D outsourcing surged 12.78%. Blood products fell 9%. Offline pharmacies dropped 7.7%. Medical equipment declined 6.39%.

Individual stocks painted an even starker picture. Zhejiang Garden Bio-chemical High-tech Co., Ltd. jumped 35.9%. Asymchem Laboratories (Tianjin) Co., Ltd. rose 24.2%. Medicilon gained 23.8%.

On the other side, Sailong plummeted 95.8% amid delisting. Baolaite fell 23.5%. Borui Medicine dropped 20.5%.

Among the week's leaders, Yifeng Pharmacy advanced 5.45%, Guangdong Dashenlin Pharmaceuticals Trade Co., Ltd. gained 5.14%, Baiyang Medicine rose 5.07%, and China Medicine climbed 4.66%.

Capital flows told their own story. Jointown saw net inflows of RMB 6.09 million. Luyan Medicine attracted RMB 4.54 million. Xinbang Pharma drew RMB 3.11 million. China Medicine received RMB 2.38 million.

The pharmaceutical commerce index stood at 981.82, up 20.61 points or 2.14%, though main force investors recorded a net outflow of RMB 58.31 million for the segment.

What the Approvals Mean

Biokin's lunkangyilongtuomab—an EGFR×HER3 bispecific antibody-drug conjugate—represents a new class of targeted therapy. CARsgen's shuruji'aolunsa, a CLDN18.2 CAR-T cell therapy, opens a frontier that has eluded researchers for years: treating solid tumors with engineered immune cells.

Until now, CAR-T therapies have shown remarkable success against blood cancers but struggled against solid tumors. The CLDN18.2 target changes that equation.

Analysts see a platform advantage emerging. Chinese innovators have built deep technical foundations in bispecific ADCs and solid tumor cell therapy. As first-in-class products enter commercialization, validated technology platforms are expected to generate iterative pipelines across multiple cancer types.

The question now isn't whether China can innovate. It's whether these platforms can scale globally.

Risks Remain

Geopolitical tensions continue to cloud cross-border partnerships. Business execution may fall short of expectations. Industry competition is intensifying. Mergers and acquisitions carry uncertainty. And drug development, by its nature, remains unpredictable.

The approvals are real. The commercialization challenge is just beginning.