Nordic Life Science 1
THE CHANGING WORLD // CHINA SOURCE NATIONAL BUREA
U OF STATISTICS CHINA SOURCE OECD.ORG Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD), selected economies Constant USD PPPs, million European Union China (People’s Republic of) Korea 1000k 500k Japan United States In 2023, China caught up with the US, and surpassed the EU, Japan and Korea in terms of Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D. One example of a high-value licensing deal between China and the Nordics was Novo Nordisk’s acquisition of the Chinese company KBP Biosciences’ ocedurenone in 2023. The potential value of the deal is USD 1.3 billion. Hurdles to overcome Nordic companies’ interest in China is well motivated. It is the world’s second largest market and an important trade partner, and the country’s production capacity is astounding. To further boost its life science sector, the government launched the '14th Five-Year Plan for Pharmaceutical Industry Development' in late 2021, aiming to create biopharma innovation hubs in ten cities to enhance regional capabiNational R&D Expenditure and Investment Intensity from 2020 to 2024 (100 million yuan) 40000 35000 30000 25000 20000 15000 10000 2.68 2.58 2.49 2.36 2.38 27956 24393 2020 2021 R&D Expenditure 2022 2023 2024 R&D Investment Intensity China's total expenditure on R&D exceeded CNY 3.6 trillion in 2024, an increase of 8.3% over the previous year. The R&D investment intensity reached 2.68%. 30783 33357 36130 (%) 2.90 2.70 2.50 2.30 2.10 1.90 1.70 lities and collaboration . “There’s a reason why China is called ‘the factory of the world’ – they can manage things very efficiently, and it’s easy to find subcontractors in the same city or province where your factory is located. Their hubs make it very efficient – you can produce at a low cost and with good quality,” says Portén. “We do have the biggest Swedish medtech and life science companies here on the ground. It’s an industry that has moved quickly and it’s a promising market for many. However, in the last few years it’s become more challenging for international companies, as unofficial ‘by local’ rules give preferential treatment to local companies,” he adds. While the government says that any company that has production in China should be considered equal to a Chinese company, reality hasn’t quite caught up yet. According to Per Portén, 40% of the Swedish companies that Business Sweden has talked to indicate that they’ve been negatively affected by the unwritten rule. NLS 42 | NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023