(Yicai) July 13 -- As China's pharmaceutical innovation gains international recognition, the transaction value of outbound licensing deals of Chinese innovative drugs approached last year's total in the first half of this year.

Chinese pharmaceutical companies licensed out innovative medicines in deals worth nearly USD110 billion in the six months ended June 30, a spokesperson for the Department of Drug Regulation under the National Medical Products Administration said at a forum yesterday. In comparison, last year's total was USD135.7 billion.

China approved 38 innovative drugs in the first half, 11 of which were first-in-class, featuring new targets and new mechanisms. All of them were developed in the country. Last year, the country approved 76 innovative drugs, but only four of the 11 first-in-class ones were domestically developed.

"There are many highlights of the new drugs approved in the first half of the year," the spokesperson noted. "For example, we approved the world's first bispecific antibody-drug conjugate, chimeric antigen receptor-T cell therapy for solid tumors, and monoclonal antibody targeting both hepatitis B and hepatitis D, as well as the country's first self-developed radioactive drug.

"This shows that China is moving towards becoming a major country in the research and development of innovative drugs," the spokesperson added.

The next step will involve optimizing the adjustments to the medical insurance catalog, promoting a real-world evaluation system for medical insurance, strengthening evidence support, expanding payment channels, enhancing international communication to build consensus, and establishing an evaluation standard system to better support genuine and differentiated innovation, a spokesperson for the Medical Service Management Department of the National Healthcare Security Administration said at the forum.

Editor: Futura Costaglione