DATA GRAPHICS | Data Byte
Bispecifics overtake ADCs in China deals
Western biopharmas signed more deals for bispecifics than ADCs with China biotechs last year
March 4, 2025 5:55 PM UTC
As Western biopharmas increasingly turned to Chinese biotechs to access antibody innovation in recent years, antibody-drug conjugates quickly came to dominate deals for advanced antibody modalities. That trend appears to be shifting, with an analysis of East-to-West deal flow revealing bispecific antibody deals outnumbered ADC deals last year.
After doubling the number of bispecific deals in 2022, ADC deals spiked in 2023. According to BioCentury’s BCIQ database, two dozen M&A, licensing and R&D deals were signed in 2023 that involved transfer of rights to one or more antibody-drug conjugates from a China biotech to a U.S. or European biopharma. During the same year, eight such bispecifics deals were signed. ...