China AI drug-design deals swell as US scrutiny mounts

Riding a wave of booming cross-border dealmaking, China’s AI-driven drug-design firms are charging onto the global stage despite Washington’s growing scrutiny of Chinese biotech firms.The value of out-licensing deals struck by Chinese biotech companies with top global multinational pharmaceutical companies climbed to US$75 billion in the first five months of 2026, up from zero before 2020, according to Linda Shu, head of China healthcare research at HSBC.In total, over the five months, these firms struck 169 licensing deals – worth a combined US$93 billion and marking an 87 per cent jump from a year earlier, Shu said in a note on Friday.The latest example came on Tuesday. Less than two months after its Hong Kong stock market debut, Metis TechBio, an AI-driven drug-design company with operations in China and the United States, signed a cross-border agreement with Boulevard Bio, a biotechnology company backed by New York investment firm Deerfield Management, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on the same day.Under the deal, Metis TechBio was expected to receive an upfront payment of US$20 million and was eligible for up to US$1.6 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, plus tiered royalties on future product sales.In return, Boulevard Bio gained global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialise MTS-128, Metis TechBio’s next-generation cancer-fighting drug candidate powered by Artificial Intelligence.