Innovation Capability of Pharmaceutical Enterprises in Lianyungang Jumps into Global First Tier

From: Lianyungang Updated: 2026-04-12 10:17

Recently, Citeline, an internationally renowned consulting firm, released its 2026 Annual Report on Pharmaceutical R&D. Five enterprises, namely Hengrui Pharma, Sino Biopharmaceutical, Fosun Pharma, Qilu Pharmaceutical, and Shiyao Group, have strongly made it into the TOP 25 global R&D pipelines. Among them, Hengrui Pharma, a local enterprise in Lianyungang City, ranked 7th globally, becoming the only Chinese pharmaceutical company to enter the top 10 worldwide. Additionally, Chiatai Tianqing, a core subsidiary of Sino Biopharmaceutical, is also rooted in Lianyungang. This marks that the pharmaceutical industry in Lianyungang City has become a core force representing China in global competition.

It is noteworthy that this year’s report adopts a more stringent statistical approach for the first time—only including active R&D projects independently advanced by enterprises and excluding pipelines that merely have cooperative links but have not actually carried out R&D. Leveraging its solid innovation foundation, the R&D pipelines of pharmaceutical enterprises in Lianyungang City have attracted industry attention. Judging from the pipeline catalog, the oncology field remains the core battleground for R&D by pharmaceutical companies in our city. There has been continuous in-depth research on high-incidence cancers such as non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer, as well as breakthroughs in difficult-to-treat tumors like gastric cancer, liver cancer, and pancreatic cancer. Prostate cancer has newly joined the top ten R&D areas, forming a complete R&D matrix covering both high-incidence and difficult-to-treat cancers.

The increasing richness of the pipelines has spurred a surge in new drugs. In 2025, the number of new drugs launched in China historically surpassed that in the United States. This milestone event declared that China’s pharmaceutical innovation capability has officially entered the global first tier, and Lianyungang is a key growth pole in this process. As a leading enterprise, Hengrui Pharma has demonstrated the value of innovation with its impressive performance: In 2025, its sales revenue from innovative drugs reached 16.342 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.09%, accounting for 58.34% of its total pharmaceutical sales revenue and becoming the core engine for its performance growth. This is not only a return on the company’s R&D investment but also highlights the significant effectiveness of the innovation-driven development strategy.

Hengrui’s breakthrough is not an isolated case. The pharmaceutical cluster in Lianyungang City is showing a flourishing innovation trend. Hansoh Pharmaceutical (the parent company of Haosen Pharmaceutical), Chiatai Tianqing, Kangyuan Pharmaceutical, and other enterprises have all accelerated their R&D pace. In 2025, a total of more than ten new drugs were approved for launch throughout the year, covering multiple therapeutic areas such as oncology, autoimmune diseases, and infectious diseases. The frequent emergence of these new drugs not only brings new treatment options to patients worldwide but also propels the pharmaceutical industry in Lianyungang to accelerate towards high-end and innovative development. From early target exploration to late-stage clinical development, and from the domestic market to the global stage, pharmaceutical enterprises in Lianyungang City are reshaping the global pharmaceutical competition landscape and injecting a continuous and powerful impetus into the overall upgrading of China’s pharmaceutical industry.

The continuous enrichment of R&D pipelines has also opened up growth space in the global market for the pharmaceutical industry in Lianyungang City. In 2025, the internationalization process of the pharmaceutical industry in the port city accelerated: The self-developed innovative drug almonertinib successfully entered the UK market, achieving a significant breakthrough for locally developed original drugs in the mainstream European market. Nearly 10 innovative drugs have been licensed out overseas through cooperation, and the highest milestone payments and future sales royalties for related projects are expected to exceed 20 billion US dollars, setting a new historical high for the licensing of pharmaceuticals from Lianyungang City to overseas markets. These figures not only represent commercial value but also mark that the innovative drug industry in Lianyungang City has completed a key leap from “domestic R&D” to “global recognition”. From early product exports to now participating in the global industrial chain division of labor through in-depth cooperation models such as technology licensing and joint development, the global layout of pharmaceutical enterprises in the port city has shifted from “single-point breakthroughs” to “systematic in-depth development”. Their progress and quality stand out among domestic innovative pharmaceutical companies, setting a benchmark for China’s pharmaceutical industry to integrate into the global innovation system.