China's drug innovation gains strong momentum: official

China's pharmaceutical industry showed markedly stronger innovation capacity and steady growth in the first half of 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Monday.

"In the first half of this year, 38 innovative drugs received approval for market use, of which 31, or over 80 percent were domestically developed. A wave of high-quality breakthroughs has emerged, with several world firsts getting approval, including the world's first CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell) therapy for solid tumors, the world's first bispecific antibody against rabies, and the world's first invasive brain-computer interface device," Tao Qing, head of the bureau for operation, monitoring and coordination with the MIIT, told a press conference in Beijing.

Despite a complex and challenging external environment and mounting pressure from industry transformation, China's pharmaceutical industry remained resilient, Tao said.

"China's innovative drug out-licensing deals also reached a new high, with total transaction value exceeding 100 billion U.S. dollars in the first six months of the year, fully demonstrating that the quality of China's pharmaceutical innovation has achieved a systemic leap forward," said the official.

From January to June, value-added industrial output of major pharmaceutical enterprises rose 6.4 percent year on year, with biopharmaceuticals posting double-digit growth.

The industry's export delivery value exceeded 210 billion yuan (about 30.91 billion U.S. dollars) in the first six months, up 9 percent from a year earlier.

Higher value-added products, including chemical finished dosage forms and biopharmaceuticals, accounted for nearly one-fifth of total exports, indicating an accelerating shift in the export mix from active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to finished pharmaceutical products.

Meanwhile, digital and green technologies are fueling the industry’s transformation and upgrading. The ministry has supported 21 pharmaceutical companies in building excellence-level smart factories and has cultivated more than 300 green factories to date.

Going forward, the ministry said it will accelerate the implementation of the 15th Five-Year Plan for Pharmaceutical Industry Development, strengthen the supply of medicines for key groups including the elderly, children, and patients with rare diseases, and move faster to bring more high quality homegrown drugs to patients around the world.

The Alashankou railway port, also known as Alataw Pass, a major railway port in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, handled 14.244 million tons of freight in the first eight months of this year, up 13 percent year on year, the latest data showed.

The figures reflect the continued improvement in the westward logistics corridor's capacity to ensure smooth and unimpeded trade flows.

To date, 129 China-Europe (Central Asia) freight train routes pass through the Alashankou railway port, reaching 21 countries including Germany and Poland.

The variety of goods transported has expanded to more than 200 categories, including mechanical and electrical equipment, new energy products, auto parts, and daily necessities, with the two-way cargo flow structure continuing to improve.