China's drug discovery strategy: established targets, combination approaches, and small-molecule optimization

Recently, China has rapidly strengthened its drug discovery capabilities. To elucidate the technological strategies underlying China's drug discovery advances, this study analyzes Chinese-origin drug candidates that are in late-stage global development, examining the drug target novelty and differentiation strategy for these candidates. The analysis reveals that Chinese-origin compounds in Phase 3 trials target molecules that have already been addressed by approved drugs more frequently than do compounds originating from other countries. In China's drug discovery, target-combination strategies that simultaneously targeted multiple molecules already validated by approved drugs were frequently used, often enabled by next-generation antibody technologies. Concurrently, the optimization of small molecules to create improved drugs has been actively pursued. The implications of this analysis for strategies to enhance drug discovery capabilities at corporate and national levels are discussed.