If you pay attention to healthcare, you will notice an interesting change: a few years ago, when discussing innovative drugs, everyone was saying, “What is available overseas, we will follow suit”; but as 2025 begins, the narrative has changed.In the first half of the year, the National Medical Products Administration approved 43 innovative drugs, with over 90% being domestically produced; a dual-antibody from 3SBio was sold to Pfizer for an upfront payment of $1.25 billion; and CAR-T therapy for solid tumors from Kintor Pharmaceutical is about to be launched, with global patients waiting for a Chinese solution.
This is not just a collection of “good news” but a signal that the industry has reached a “historic turning point.” The biomedicine sector in 2025 is accelerating from a “major country in innovative drugs” to a “strong country in innovative drugs” under the triple resonance of policy, capital, and technology.
Today, we will break down the core logic of this track: how does the macro environment provide support? Where are the breakthroughs in industry transformation? How can ordinary people seize opportunities?
1. Macro Triple Play: Economic Support, Policy Breakthroughs, Demand Expansion, the Industry Reaches a New Starting Point
Biomedicine is not an isolated track; its explosion is supported by the “big environment.” Three key data points for 2025 have already set the stage for the industry:
The first is the economic fundamentals. In the first half of the year, domestic GDP grew by 5.3% year-on-year, which seems stable, but the growth rate of value added in high-tech industries reached 9.5%—with biomedicine being one of the core engines. For example, Heng Rui Medicine raised nearly 10 billion HKD through its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, directly driving a 42.8% year-on-year increase in industry financing. This indicates that capital confidence in biomedicine is not about “speculating on concepts” but is anchored in the positioning of “new momentum.”
The second is the acceleration of policies. In the past, clinical approval for innovative drugs took 60 days; by 2025, this will be compressed to 30 days, with Beijing’s pilot program averaging even 23.8 days for approval; more critically, the dual-track payment system of “medical insurance + commercial insurance”: medical insurance covers the basics (optimizing centralized procurement to avoid a focus solely on low prices), while commercial insurance covers high-end (the soon-to-be-implemented Class C catalog, which includes high-value drugs like CAR-T). Policies are no longer about “control” but about “facilitation”—controlling the cost of living while leaving enough profit space for innovation.
The third is the hard demand gap. The population aged 60 and above already accounts for 22% of the national total, and the demand brought about by aging, tumors, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases is expanding every year; more critically, the growth rate of residents’ healthcare spending is 3.4%, which, while not high, indicates an increasing willingness for “precision treatment”—for example, the global sales of semaglutide reached $7.86 billion in the first half of the year, with an 83% growth rate in weight loss indications, and the launch of Innovent’s mazdutide was met with a rush for prescriptions.
These three forces combined act as a “booster” for biomedicine: the economy provides capital, policies provide efficiency, and demand provides the market. The industry is no longer taking “small steps” but is now “running fast.”
2. Core Breakthroughs in the Industry: From “R&D Following” to “Going Global for Monetization,” Three Changes Rewrite the Rules of Competition
If the macro environment is the “foundation,” then the industry’s own transformation is the “high-rise.” The most critical breakthroughs in biomedicine in 2025 are concentrated in three directions:
1. R&D: From “Clustered Tumors” to “Multiple Blossoms,” Domestic Innovation Takes the Lead
In recent years, innovative drug R&D has been almost entirely dominated by “tumors”; however, 2025 is different—
In the first half of the year, among the 43 domestically approved Class 1 innovative drugs, tumor drugs accounted for 40.7% (still the main force), but endocrine, autoimmune, and neurological fields are beginning to emerge: Innovent’s mazdutide (for weight loss/diabetes) and Heng Rui’s amivantamab (for autoimmune diseases) are both targeting markets with millions of patients.
More importantly, the “approval efficiency” has improved: in the past, it took 5-7 years for a new drug to go from clinical trials to market; now, clinical trial approvals have sped up by 50%, and some blockbuster drugs can even achieve “synchronous application in China and the US.” For example, CanSino Biologics’ PD-1 monoclonal antibody was approved by the US FDA in April, and it will soon be available in China—something that was unimaginable in the past.
2. Going Global: From “Financing-Driven” to “Monetization-Driven,” Chinese Assets Compete Globally
Before 2024, Chinese innovative drugs going global were mostly “small-scale operations”; by 2025, there will be a direct “quantum leap”:
In the first half of the year, there were 72 license-out transactions, totaling $48.4 billion, which is more than the total for all of 2024; among them, 16 transactions exceeded $1 billion, with 3SBio’s PD-1/VEGF dual-antibody and Hansoh Pharmaceutical’s GLP-1/GIP dual-antibody being sought after by international giants like Pfizer and Regeneron.
The underlying logic has changed: previously, going global was about “lacking funds, seeking investment”; now it is about “having technology, selling rights.” China’s technology in ADC (antibody-drug conjugates), dual antibodies, and CGT (cell and gene therapy) has reached a level comparable to that of overseas— for example, Kintor’s Claudin18.2 CAR-T, which has a clinical remission rate of over 60% for gastric cancer, has no comparable competitors globally.
3. Technology: ADC, AI, CAR-T, Three Major Tracks Restructuring the R&D Paradigm
The competition in biomedicine is fundamentally a competition of “technological gaps.” In 2025, three technological directions are particularly noteworthy:
- ADC (Antibody-Drug Conjugates) The global market is expected to exceed $30 billion this year, with China contributing over 30% of the clinical pipeline. Heng Rui and Rongchang Biologics’ ADCs have already been sold overseas, with targets expanding from HER2 (breast cancer) to CLDN18.2 (gastric cancer) and B7-H3 (lung cancer), potentially producing “billion-dollar” domestic products in the next five years;
- AI Drug Development is no longer a “concept” but a reality. Insilico Medicine’s anti-fibrotic drug went from target discovery to Phase II clinical trials in just 14 months (traditional processes take 3-4 years), and the clinical data is better than placebo—this is the world’s first AI-driven drug throughout the entire process, expected to be launched in 2028;
- Solid Tumor CAR-T Previously, CAR-T was only used for hematological malignancies (leukemia, lymphoma); by 2025, it aims to “conquer solid tumors.” Kintor’s Claudin18.2 CAR-T and Origene’s GPC3 CAR-T (for liver cancer) are both showing “revolutionary efficacy” in clinical trials, and once approved, will rewrite the treatment rules for gastric and liver cancers.
3. Talent Restructuring: Localization Return, Demand Differentiation, Career Choices Shift, Workplace Logic Changes
As the industry changes, the talent market will naturally change as well. The talent landscape in biomedicine in 2025 shows three obvious trends:
1. Executive Return: Multinational Pharmaceutical Companies Localize, Domestic Companies Compete for “International Talent”
In the past, the presidents of multinational pharmaceutical companies (MNCs) in China were often “foreigners or people from Hong Kong and Taiwan”; by 2025, this will be different—
People like Qian Jiang from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Liu Yan from Takeda, and Li Yao from Novartis are all “Chinese executives” with experience in domestic pharmaceutical companies; conversely, domestic companies are also competing for “international talent”: BeiGene poached the former president of Takeda China to be its regional general manager, and Heng Rui hired the former general manager of AstraZeneca China as COO.
The reason is simple: the policies in the Chinese market (medical insurance negotiations, centralized procurement) and patient demands (disease spectrum different from Europe and the US) require people who “understand the local context” to operate; while domestic companies going global need people who “understand international rules” to interface with the FDA and EMA (European Medicines Agency).
2. Demand Differentiation: “R&D Increases, Sales Decrease,” Talent in Innovative Fields is Highly Competitive
The overall talent market is “tightening in total volume,” but structurally “uneven”:
- Hot fields include early-stage R&D (biology, preclinical pharmacology), clinical operations (overseas multi-center studies), AI drug development (large model algorithms), and BD (business development), with job demand increasing by 30%-50% year-on-year. For example, an AI drug development director can earn an annual salary of 1-1.5 million, yet it is still hard to find candidates;
- Cold fields include traditional sales and generic drug production, with positions shrinking by 10%-20%. Some pharmaceutical companies are laying off staff, mostly concentrated in “non-innovative business lines”; it is not due to a lack of funds but rather a “strategic focus.”
3. Career Choice Shift: From “Looking at Salary” to “Looking at Development,” Stability Becomes a New Demand
In the past, when pharmaceutical professionals looked for jobs, they first asked, “What is the annual salary?” By 2025, they are more concerned with three questions:
1. Does the company have any “blockbuster drugs” in the pipeline? (Product prospects are more important than scale);2. Is there a career development path? (Among the 31-40 age group, 69.2% list this as a primary consideration);3. Can the work location be stable? (43.9% of people are unwilling to work in different locations, which is 15% higher than last year).
This reflects a rationality during the “industry adjustment period”: people are no longer pursuing “short-term high salaries” but rather “long-term stability”—after all, in the field of innovative drugs, following a promising pipeline can yield returns (stocks, promotions) in 3-5 years that may be more important than current salaries.
4. Opportunities for Ordinary People: Seizing These 3 Gaps is More Important than “Blindly Jumping Jobs”
Whether you are a newcomer to the industry or a veteran looking to transition, the opportunities in biomedicine in 2025 lie not in “blindly following trends” but in “precise matching.” Three directions are worth focusing on:
1. Key Position Gaps: These 5 Types of Talent are Most Scarce
According to industry research, the positions with the largest gaps in 2025 are:
- AI Drug Development Engineer who understands large models and drug development, with an annual salary of 800,000-1,200,000;
- Overseas Clinical Operations familiar with FDA/EMA regulations and capable of managing multi-center studies, with an annual salary of 600,000-1,000,000;
- ADC/CGT R&D with successful cases from PCC (preclinical candidate compounds) to IND (clinical application), with an annual salary of 500,000-800,000;
- BD (Business Development) with overseas licensing experience and capable of closing large deals, with an annual salary of 1,000,000-1,500,000;
- Market Access who understands medical insurance negotiations and commercial insurance connections, with an annual salary of 400,000-800,000.
The commonality of these positions is that they require a “dual drive of technology + resources”; they cannot be filled solely by “experience” but require “hard skills” (such as AI tools, regulatory knowledge) + “soft resources” (such as international networks, clinical resources).
2. Salary Trends: Working 10-15 Years is the “Golden Period” for Salary Increases
Data shows that the salary increase of pharmaceutical professionals is highly correlated with years of work:
- 1-3 years: salary increases are mostly 10%-30%, mainly relying on “entry-level capabilities”;
- 5-10 years: 30%-50% salary increases are achieved by 13.95%, relying on “project experience”;
- 10-15 years: over 50% salary increases are achieved by 15.91%, marking the “golden period”—individuals in this stage are either technical experts (such as heads of ADC R&D) or executives (such as R&D directors) who can directly create value for the company.
3. Personal Breakthrough: Don’t Just Focus on “Positions,” Pay Attention to “Technological Trends”
Biomedicine is evolving too quickly, and relying on a “single skill” can easily lead to obsolescence. What ordinary people need to do is to “anchor technological trends and fill capability gaps”:
- For those in R&D: learn AI tools (such as using AlphaFold to predict protein structures) and understand international regulations (FDA’s AI approval framework);
- For those in clinical roles: focus on overseas multi-center studies (MRCT) and learn real-world data (RWS) analysis;
- For those in sales: shift from “selling products” to “selling solutions” (for example, combining commercial insurance for patient management).
Conclusion: In 2025, the “Long Run” of Biomedicine is Just Beginning
Many people ask: Is biomedicine a “bubble”? The answer for 2025 is very clear: No.
Because the growth of this industry is not driven by capital speculation but by real support from “clinical demand” (aging), “technological breakthroughs” (ADC/AI/CAR-T), and “policy support” (approval + payment).
For companies, the competition in the next five years will be a competition of “source innovation” and “global operations”—being able to produce good drugs that do not exist globally and sell them worldwide is the key to survival;
For individuals, opportunities lie not in “blindly jumping jobs” but in “deepening technology”—seizing tracks like ADC, AI, and CGT, and enhancing international and digital capabilities to keep pace with the industry’s “fast-running” rhythm.
In 2025, biomedicine will no longer be a “game for a few” but an “opportunity for all.”
All data and insights in this article are sourced from the latest biomedicine industry report.
If you need the original report PDF and more related reports,long press the image below to scan the code
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