Western pharmaceutical companies have long defended high drug prices with a single argument: high prices are the necessary condition for financing innovation. Of every ten drugs entering clinical trials, roughly nine fail; the one that succeeds must cover all the costs and generate enough profit to fund the next round of research.
This argument rests on three structural pillars:
First, patent monopoly. During the patent protection period, the company can set prices freely.
Second, clinical data supremacy. The best drugs are born in Western laboratories, so the West has the right to set the highest prices.
Third, rule-making power over global access. FDA and EMA approval standards become the de facto global threshold for drug access.
In 2026, all three pillars are cracking simultaneously.
Cure is a one-time transaction. Management is a lifetime cash flow. This is the first principle of pharmaceutical capital.
HIV/AIDS is the clearest case. In the 1990s, antiretroviral therapy (ART) transformed HIV from a fatal disease into a "manageable chronic condition." This was a medical breakthrough — and also a business model masterpiece: patients become lifelong dependents, and stopping treatment means relapse. The global ART market exceeds USD 30 billion, with the top five manufacturers holding approximately 80% share. Capital flows toward "better lifetime management," not "one-time cure" — because cure does not fit the business model.
The same logic appears in the insulin market. When insulin was discovered in 1921, it was seen as a breakthrough. One hundred years later, it remains a lifelong medication, with a global market exceeding USD 20 billion and three giants controlling approximately 90%. This is not because there are no better options — it is because the cost of one transplant is far less than the profit from a lifetime of insulin sales.
The second structural strategy of pharmaceutical capital is to transform "risk factors" into "lifetime treatment." Academics call this "disease mongering" — "widening the boundaries of treatable illness in order to expand the market for those treatments."
Concrete methods:
First, lowering diagnostic thresholds. In 2017, the American College of Cardiology lowered the hypertension threshold from 140/90 mmHg to 130/80 mmHg. Overnight, millions of previously "healthy" Americans became "hypertension patients." This is not "medical progress" — it is market expansion.
Second, redefining "risk" as "requiring treatment." Statins were initially used only for patients with cardiovascular disease. Today they are promoted to millions of healthy people with "slightly high cholesterol." In 2023, the global statin market exceeded USD 15 billion, with over 200 million users. Truly ill patients are drowned out by "manufactured patients."
Third, turning normal life processes into diseases. Menopause, premenstrual syndrome, male pattern baldness, restless legs syndrome — these are packaged as "diseases" requiring medication. When pharmaceutical capital defines what counts as a "disease," real medical resources are diverted from real patients to manufactured ones. As a public health commentary noted: "Inventing new diseases to develop new markets is the worst possible use of medicine and human suffering."
"Many drugs shouldn't be taken but are; many treatments aren't needed but are done; many surgeries make patients suffer more, yet are still performed." This is former Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu's public characterization of ineffective treatment. The proportion of ineffective treatment reaches 20%–40%.
German physician Jörg Blech revealed in "Healing Myths": "Discectomy has been proven to fail in 40% of cases" — yet of 220 British doctors surveyed, not a single one would accept surgery for their own back pain. At the Leipzig University Hospital, an experiment with 100 patients with 75% coronary artery stenosis found that the surgery group's one-year recovery rate was 70%, while the control group — no surgery, just exercise — had a recovery rate of 88%.
The US Congressional Budget Office reports that up to 30% of US healthcare spending may be unnecessary. In China, ineffective hospitalization rates reach 14.62%, and ineffective hospital days reach 24.88%. This is not "individual doctor error" — it is the inevitable result of "fee-for-service" incentives: when income is tied to tests, drugs, and surgeries, overtreatment ceases to be an anomaly and becomes "rational behavior."
When patents expire and generics prepare to enter, pharmaceutical capital does not sit idly by. It uses systematic legal strategies to block competition.
Patent thickets: Among 13 biologics litigated between 2009 and 2023, the median was protected by 14 patents, and biosimilar competition arrived 20.3 years after FDA approval. In contrast, small-molecule drugs had a median of 3 patents, with generic competition beginning after 12.6 years. 78% of patents related to new products are merely part of the patent thicket, used to extend patent protection.
Product hopping: AstraZeneca's Prilosec → Nexium is the classic case. Prilosec sold USD 6.2 billion annually. As its core patent neared expiration, AstraZeneca launched Nexium — essentially the same drug's S-enantiomer, with minimal clinical difference — then stopped promoting Prilosec and shifted all promotion to Nexium. Even after generic Prilosec arrived, patients "migrated" to Nexium did not automatically switch back. This is not "innovation" — it is "locking patients in with marketing, and blocking competition with legal tools."
Pay-for-delay: The originator pays the generic challenger in exchange for delayed market entry. These payments are nominally "settlements" — in substance, they are payments to buy continued monopoly. The US Federal Trade Commission estimates that pay-for-delay costs patients approximately USD 35 billion annually. In one typical case, a drugmaker agreed to pay USD 145 million to settle antitrust claims — while raising the brand drug's price by over 800% during the protected exclusivity period.
Pharmaceutical capital controls not only the product but also the "scientific evidence" about the product.
Ghostwriting: David Healy estimates that 90% of articles on new drugs published in medical journals are written by "ghost authors" — pharmaceutical companies maintain professional writing teams, produce papers for medical journals, then publish them under academic researchers' names.
Selective publication: A study of antidepressants found that of 74 trials, all 38 with positive results were published, while 22 of 36 trials with questionable or negative results were not published. The "evidence" doctors see is systematically filtered.
Funding patient organizations: An analysis of 74 patient organizations that signed letters supporting pharmaceutical industry positions found that 54 (74%) had financial relationships or direct collaboration with pharmaceutical companies; 64 (86%) received funding from or were associated with corporate interest groups. These "patient advocacy groups" lobby against drug price controls and against switching to cheaper generics. By funding patient organizations, the pharmaceutical industry gains the credibility of "patient representation" while suppressing truly independent critical voices.
If there were a medical system that could solve problems requiring lifelong medication or expensive surgery with a few dollars of herbs and a few needles, it would pose an existential threat to pharmaceutical capital.
This is precisely the situation Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) faces. The suppression is systematic:
First, using "scientific standards" as a weapon. TCM emphasizes "three adaptations" — adapting to the individual, the time, and the place, with one prescription per person. This individualized logic is judged "unscientific" by the West for being "unable to pass large-scale randomized double-blind trials." But the problem is: these standards themselves were established by institutions funded by pharmaceutical capital.
Second, attributing efficacy to "placebo" or "self-healing." When acupuncture and Chinese herbs demonstrate effects in clinical practice, the standard narrative is "psychological suggestion" or "natural recovery." Critics point out that Pfizer and other painkiller giants are precisely the backers of such research — because "if a few dollars of needles can solve the problem, patients won't go take their painkillers."
Third, criticizing TCM while secretly grabbing prescriptions. Germany's health insurance reimburses acupuncture. The British royal family hires TCM practitioners. Harvard Medical School has established a TCM research center. Japan's Tsumura Pharmaceutical has systematically developed 210 Chinese classical formulas from "Treatise on Cold Damage," filing patents through "micro-innovation" — as of 2023, it held over 12,000 related patents, while China held only about 3,200. Saying "unscientific" while grabbing "prescriptions" — this itself is the greatest self-evidence.
If the above behaviors are "systemic problems," the opioid crisis is "systemic slaughter."
Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family knew OxyContin was highly addictive, yet actively marketed it, downplayed the risks, and bribed doctors. The result: over 130,000 people died from opioid overdose, with total deaths at approximately 400,000.
This is not an "accident" — it is the inevitable product of a system that transforms suffering into profit. When "profit before human life" becomes the default logic, 400,000 deaths is just an "externality."
China's patent rise in biopharmaceuticals is changing the world on three levels.
8.1 Patent Numbers: China Is Now in the Global First Tier
WIPO's 2025 data shows China's PCT international patent applications reached 73,718, ranking first globally for consecutive years, with medical technology and pharmaceuticals as major fields.
In biopharmaceuticals, China's patent applications grew from 5,000 in 2015 to 15,000 in 2024, with its share of global biopharmaceutical patent applications rising from under 20% to over 30%.
In genetic testing, the change is even more dramatic: China's applicant share jumped from 45% in 2015 to approximately 80% in 2025, becoming the global innovation leader.
Clarivate's analysis of China's 2025 Top 100 Biopharmaceutical Innovators shows participating companies accumulated 15,882 authorized patents, a year-on-year increase of over 450%; total patent citations reached 64,018, a year-on-year increase of 1,300%. This is not the performance of individual companies — it is a systematic industry-wide leap.
8.2 Clinical Data: From "Following" to "Surpassing"
Patent numbers are only the surface. The real turning point is clinical data superiority.
In September 2024, Akeso's ivonescimab (PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody) achieved a median overall survival of 30.8 months in the HARMONi-2 head-to-head Phase III trial, compared to 22.6 months for Merck's Keytruda. Keytruda is the world's best-selling drug, with 2025 sales of approximately USD 31.6 billion. The Economist called this "a significant moment for China's pharmaceutical industry" — a lung cancer drug developed by a small Chinese biotech company surpassed Merck's star drug Keytruda in clinical trials.
This is not an isolated case. Chinese pharmaceutical companies are upgrading from "fast follower drugs" (improving safety or delivery based on existing drugs) to "first-in-class drugs" (targeting new targets or mechanisms). When Chinese pharmaceutical companies can prove with clinical data that their drugs are superior, Western pharmaceutical companies are no longer paying a "cheap premium for Chinese assets" — they are paying a "challenger's pricing power."
8.3 Licensing: Western Pharmaceutical Companies Are Acknowledging Chinese Value with Real Money
In the first half of 2026, China's innovative drug licensing (License-out) transaction total reached approximately USD 110 billion, more than double the full year of 2024, accounting for 58% of global transactions in the same period.
Key cases:
- Hengrui Pharmaceuticals licensed its GLP-1/GIP dual-target drug to Novo Nordisk, potential total of USD 2.6 billion.
- Merck acquired Simprota's KRAS G12D inhibitor for a USD 400 million upfront payment.
- GSK reached a collaboration agreement with Hengrui worth up to USD 12 billion, developing up to 12 innovative drugs jointly.
- Pfizer obtained a license for 3SBio's cancer drug, with a transaction value of up to nearly USD 6.1 billion.
Bloomberg calculations show that at least 38 global late-stage clinical trials currently being conducted by Western pharmaceutical companies use drugs developed in China, including potential treatments for cancer and obesity.
Western pharmaceutical companies are facing the most severe "patent cliff" in history — drugs that could generate over USD 300 billion in revenue in the next six years will lose patent protection by 2030. They urgently need Chinese assets to fill pipeline gaps. This is not "recognizing Chinese innovation" — it is "needing Chinese assets to maintain their own revenue."
8.4 Why China Can Do It: Speed, Cost, Scale
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla's statement at the National Committee on US-China Relations dinner is the direct answer: "In biopharmaceuticals, China's astonishing development speed, cost advantages, and scale effects have changed the global competitive landscape."
China currently has approximately 1,200 candidate new drugs, compared to only 60 a decade ago. As of July 2026, China's pipeline accounts for 39% of the global total.
Regulatory reform is key. China's National Medical Products Administration revised the "Drug Review and Approval Measures" in 2025, introducing a risk-based review mechanism and implementing classified management for innovative drugs and clinical trial applications. In the first half of 2025, 23 innovative drugs received clinical trial approval, of which 12 were first-in-China clinical trials.
The "sea turtle" return wave is another structural factor. Many students and professionals who studied or worked abroad have returned, bringing experience in creating biotech companies and dealing with investors and regulators. Easier financing and policies for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange have further stimulated entrepreneurial enthusiasm.
8.5 What It Means for Global Patients
For patients in poor countries, China's rise helps narrow the gap. As The Economist noted: "More competition usually means more treatment options and lower costs. For patients who have long been unable to access cutting-edge drugs, China's rise helps narrow the gap. This is especially important for those in poor countries who urgently need these drugs."
But "selling out" and "delivering to those who need it" are two different things. The License-out model gives Chinese pharmaceutical companies cash flow, but global commercialization capability remains in the hands of multinational pharmaceutical companies. China's innovative drug market accounts for only about 5% of the global total.
China Biopharmaceutical CEO Xie Chengrun's path proposed at Davos is worth noting: using international multi-center clinical trials as a link, promoting a multi-center clinical mutual recognition system in Asia-Pacific and Belt and Road countries and regions. Once implemented, it could bring 10–15 Chinese innovative drugs to market in these regions within several years.
This is not "charity." This is a "parallel access channel." It bypasses the FDA and EMA approval monopoly, building an alternative drug delivery system in the 7 billion-person market that global pharmaceutical companies have actively abandoned.
The machine's operating logic is clear and brutal:
- Manufacture lifelong customers: preference for manageable chronic diseases over curable diseases;
- Invent diseases: turning healthy people into patients, expanding the market;
- Overtreat: extracting profits with ineffective tests and treatments while harming patients;
- Block competition: patent thickets, product hopping, pay-for-delay, ensuring monopoly pricing power;
- Manipulate evidence: ghostwriting, selective publication, funding patient organizations, ensuring "science" supports sales;
- Suppress alternatives: because once cheap and effective alternatives are widely recognized, the lifetime medication business model collapses.
The Structural Diagnosis
This is not "a few bad companies." It is the product of systematic design. When every link in a system — patents, regulation, legislation, pricing — is systematically biased toward profit rather than human life, its failure is not an "accident." It is the inevitable result of the design.
The machine must end. Not because of moral awakening, but because of arithmetic constraints. When Chinese pharmaceutical companies prove with clinical data that "the best drugs are not necessarily in the West," when "most-favored-nation pricing" cuts off the high-price escape route, when Global South countries build alternative access systems — the machine's operating cost has exceeded its return.
The end is not "defeating" it. The end is letting it discover for itself: the cost of maintaining that value system has exceeded the cost of abandoning it.
The GL Framework's Criterion
"Costs must not be transferred to the voiceless vulnerable." This is the core criterion of the GL Framework. The entire business model of Western pharmaceutical capital is built on the continuous violation of this criterion.
Suffering is not a "side effect." Suffering is the product itself.