00:00 Spokesman a
According to a recent report from the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Bles, China has the most unmistakable opportunity to overtake the United States in biotechnology. For more information, let’s welcome to the leader of the Arta Rawi American Industry Markets and the Health Sciences and Wellness, as well as in Yahoo Finance’s own Anjali Camlani. Welcome to both. Okay, I’ll start with you. Uh, maybe it’s just a big question, a big picture. In your opinion, does the US have the investment power to outstrip China in biotechnology?
01:05 Arta Rawi
Yes, thank you for having me. Oh, biotechnology is the innovative feeder of large pharmaceuticals and only to the ecosystem in the ecosystem. So, to answer your question, what do you need in this ecosystem to educate yourself? Oh, the investment capacity we have last, you know, decades, if you will, to continue investing in this innovation to move on. NIH is probably the largest VK in the world over $ 40 billion in restless funding in entrepreneurial startup companies. Then you have the talent you were, you know, all these best universities and MDS and doctoral students come to the progress. And then you need this technology transfer system so that these intellectual property will become a launch. And then with this investment capacity it continues to grow and then by testing and going to people and then ultimately developed for use of everyone. So, uh, yes, the US still has the capacity to invest, but this is not potentially the only game in the city, given the development coming from China.
03:01 Anjali Camlani
I am curious, Arta, because we know, I know you are tracking deals and uh, we have seen the number of deals that have constantly increased over the years. I saw, uh, one of the ones you sent, who looked at the number of transactions so far in 2025, is more than half of what he saw in 2024. So we can expect it to really overtake 2024. What does this mean? Because I know that some of the transactions that are happening are more, um, what you would call licensing deals, right? This money does not have to go from Scratch Investment and innovation, but these are more things that have already happened and have been built. Talk to me about it and why it matters.
04:07 Arta Rawi
I mean, first of all, the numbers are quite compelling. A few years ago in 2016, we had almost no deals below a billion dollars. As of last year, there were $ 30 billion licenses from Chinese assets in the United States, and 2025 is a very strong start, so they will definitely win that number. So the reason why this is happening is in 2015, the Chinese Communist Party has prioritized investing in biotechnology and this was a priority sector. And it was 10 years ago and this 10 years of journey began to play in their favor, as in historically China is known for these active ingredients and excipients, which is like the chemicals that pharmaceuticals use to make products with small molecules. And this trip now takes them to the current to more advanced innovation. We probably have not yet seen the first in class, but obviously they will be best in class, with the shotguns of the target if you see more and more.
05:44 Anjali Camlani
Well, this would be my question, because I know we have seen some people make copies or metowns about the type of innovation coming out of China. Hmm, do we expect them to have something to surpass the United States, then in this sense, in terms of exiting the next blockbuster for the whole world?
06:12 Arta Rawi
I want to say that there are some examples, early examples that some of the Chinese assets are actually compared to the head, you know, beating or exceeding, at least corresponding to the efficiency and safety profile of some of the western developed compounds. But it’s also a trip like an audio question. So what is it, what do they need more to get there? So they have the talent. I want to say that many Western educated MD and PhD students have returned to China working on this. The government itself as part of the prioritization program invests in it. So the question is, do they have a strategy to go out for these entrepreneurs? And I think it is where they miss them, because it is not like an IPO market that is comparable to Western standards. Until recently, it is not as a M&A output. I think there is weakness there may be the opportunity to appear. But the transactions we talked about are because of the fears of intellectual property, because of the fears of reliability and trust in the data, because, you know, there is no such institution in the world as the FDA that everyone trusts and we hope to continue to trust. And for this reason, deals seem to be more asset purchases. So I do not take the risk by working in China, but I also buy an asset in a licensing transaction and will continue to develop it, especially if you can do this more cheaper and faster in China, which is their competitive advantage over Western companies, then you bring this into a person quickly and then a person can be checked. I think this can be a profitable formula for the industry.