Chuan Sun Featured in Exclusive 21st Century Business Herald Interview on Chinese Innovative Drugs in the Global Market

Chuan Sun, Managing Partner at Morrison Foerster’s Shanghai and Hong Kong offices, was featured in an exclusive interview with 21st Century Business Herald, where he shared his perspectives on investment trends in China's healthcare sector, the growing global competitiveness of Chinese innovative drugs, developments in BD transactions, and the valuation of Chinese pharma assets. 

Chuan observed that what the global healthcare investment market experienced in the first half of 2026 was not a “broad-based rebound,” but rather a “selective recovery.” Capital is flowing to high-quality assets with differentiated advantages, global development strategies, and verifiable commercial value. He noted that the position of Chinese pharma assets in global capital allocation is evolving: “Global capital is no longer simply being ‘allocated to China’; rather, it is rediscovering and reassessing the R&D efficiency, asset quality, and global commercialization potential of ‘Chinese Innovation’ as part of the broader reallocation of global pipelines.” Meanwhile, “Hong Kong is no longer merely a financing window for Chinese companies seeking offshore listings. It is evolving into a core platform connecting China’s innovative companies with global capital, global regulatory frameworks, and global industry partners—particularly in the healthcare sector.”

Commenting on the surge in cross-border BD transactions involving Chinese innovative drugs, Chuan leaned towards the view that the trend was a sustainable structural shift, noting that beyond China’s advantages of cost and clinical development speed, Chinese innovative drugs are becoming a source of supply for global drug pipelines. At the same time, risks such as transaction termination, regulatory uncertainty, and intellectual property disputes should not be overlooked amid the BD boom. Drawing on MoFo’s experience advising companies on “going overseas”, Chuan shared the firm’s practical framework for such transactions, recommending that companies address key issues, including data compliance, regulatory strategy, intellectual property, and commercial arrangements, during the due diligence and transaction structuring stages to mitigate risks for cross-border BD deals.

Addressing the widely discussed notion of the “China valuation discount,” Chuan remarked: “It cannot simply be attributed to capability or perception bias. More accurately, it reflects a stage-specific risk pricing.” He believed Chinese pharma companies should focus on four paths to strengthen their global bargaining power: continuing to develop differentiated innovation assets; proactively designing global development strategies; preparing clinical, CMC, and compliance documentation to international standards; and establishing verifiable systems covering intellectual property, data compliance, supply chains and commercialization capabilities. He concluded that if Chinese pharma companies want global buyers to pay a premium for “Chinese Innovation,” “the key is not to tell a bigger story, but to reduce counterparties’ risk assumptions through robust data and greater certainty.”

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