China has seen a rise in ongoing clinical trials for the past few years which has now surpassed the US, according to GlobalData analysis.
Speaking at Arena International’s Outsourcing in Clinical Trials West Coast 2025 conference in San Francisco, Revati Tatake, Global Head of Pharma Research, Analysis and Competitive Intelligence at GlobalData, surprised delegates when she revealed that the US was no longer the global leader in clinical trials.
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“What does that mean for us here, especially for outsourcing of clinical trials? Where are the opportunities? Are there new business opportunities for CROs, CMOs and pharma for their clinical operations?” Tatake asked.
Tatake highlighted that most ongoing studies in China are single-country trials, conducted only in China, with over 70% of those being run by sponsor companies based in China.
Not only is China becoming a larger contributor to global clinical trials, but the cost of trials is not rising and the per patient trial cost is less than that in the US. Meanwhile, one of the key issues elsewhere globally is increasing trial costs. The increasing costs are likely to be a combination of the increasing complexity of studies, recruitment challenges, drop-out rates, and other issues.
But as trials in China increase, over in the US, the looming threat of the BIOSECURE Act passing could lead to major issues for US companies using Chinese manufacturing services for drugs. Tatake said that as part of a survey conducted by GlobalData, the main impact the industry believes will be seen should the Act pass in the Senate is that manufacturing will move to US allies in neutral countries. Respondents from the APAC (Asia-Pacific) region believe that China may retaliate, causing a negative impact.
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By GlobalDataOther key trends
Tatake also highlighted other key trends in the biopharma sector, including the influence of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA’s), which GlobalData forecasts will reach market sales of $125.3bn in 2033, with obesity drugs contributing to 90% of this value. While Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk remain the main players in the obesity market with Mounjaro/Zepbound and Wegovy, respectively, there are several anti-obesity drug candidates in Phase II and Phase III studies, according to the GlobalData Pharmaceutical Intelligence Centre.
Drug manufacturing and supply chain remains a huge issue for the industry. Experts believe that manufacturing and supply chain issues could be exacerbated by tariffs and the BIOSECURE Act, with anticipation that the industry could also see drug prices increase dramatically at the same time as suffering shortages.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is also set to have a big impact on the field in the coming years, with the Act set to come into full force on 1 January 2026 for the first ten drugs. While the industry believes it will open more doors for government negotiation across all pharmaceuticals and help more patients, industry experts have shared fears that the Act could threaten the industry’s ability to innovate and invest in R&D.
This comes at a time when investment in biotechs remains low following a pandemic peak. Tatake said there has been a rise in investment in biotechs since 2023, but it is not quick enough and therefore remains a key challenge for the industry.
Among emerging technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) is a key theme in biopharma, with 84% of respondents to a GlobalData survey stating it would be the most dominant technology impacting the pharmaceutical value chain. The sector believes the technology will help early-stage drug development the most. According to GlobalData’s drug database, there are about 2900 drugs that have been developed or repurposed using AI, with about 92% of these in discovery and preclinical stages of development.
GlobalData is the parent company of Clinical Trials Arena.
