Updated on November 13, 2026
China used to be a market where Pfizer sold drugs invented in America. It is now also a place where Pfizer buys new molecules, runs early trials and competes with the labs it licenses from.
Pfizer in China in 3 figures
| 5% | USD 1.25 billion | USD 1 billion |
| Share of Pfizer’s 2025 revenue made in China, its largest market outside the US | Upfront payment to China’s 3SBio for global rights to a cancer antibody, May 2025 | Investment in China over five years under the “China 2030” plan |
Sources: Pfizer 10-K 2025; BioSpectrum Asia, May 2025; BioSpace, November 2024.
Daxue Consulting’s first profile of the company, written by Matthieu David, opened with “Pfizer: the American Giant.” The giant then sold in China the same drugs it sold everywhere else, made in plants in Dalian, Suzhou and Wuxi, with more than 4,000 employees in China.
The relationship has turned around. China was Pfizer’s largest market outside the United States in 2025, at 5% of total revenue, up from 4% in 2024 (Pfizer 10-K, February 2026). But the most important news about Pfizer and China now concerns drugs flowing the other way: in 2025, Pfizer paid Chinese companies for the rights to a cancer antibody and an oral obesity drug.
Pfizer in China: key figures
Exhibit 1: Pfizer’s China footprint
| Indicator | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| China’s share of Pfizer’s revenue | 5% in 2025 (4% in 2024) | Pfizer 10-K |
| Pfizer total revenue | USD 62.6 billion in 2025, -2% operationally | Pfizer, February 2026 |
| Implied China revenue | About USD 3.1 billion (Daxue Consulting calculation) | Pfizer 10-K |
| 3SBio deal (SSGJ-707) | USD 1.25 billion upfront, up to USD 4.8 billion in milestones, USD 100 million equity | BioSpectrum Asia, May 2025 |
| YaoPharma deal (YP05002) | USD 150 million upfront, up to about USD 2 billion in total | Pharmaceutical Technology, December 2025 |
| China R&D centers | 3, including Beijing (opened March 2025) | Xinhua via China Daily, March 2025 |
| China investment plan | USD 1 billion over five years (“China 2030”) | BioSpace, November 2024 |
Table designed by Daxue Consulting.
For Pfizer, China is now both a market to sell in and a laboratory to buy from.
What is new for Pfizer in China
A record bet on a Chinese cancer drug
In May 2025, Pfizer signed an exclusive licensing agreement with 3SBio for SSGJ-707, a PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody in trials in China for lung, colorectal and gynecological cancers. Pfizer paid USD 1.25 billion upfront, with up to USD 4.8 billion in milestones and a USD 100 million equity investment. Pfizer has global rights outside China and an option on Chinese commercialization rights.
An oral obesity drug from Fosun’s YaoPharma
In December 2025, Pfizer licensed YP05002, a small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist developed by YaoPharma, a subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical. The deal includes USD 150 million upfront and up to USD 1.94 billion in milestones. After losing ground in the obesity race, Pfizer is using a Chinese molecule to return.
A third R&D center, in Beijing
Pfizer opened its Beijing research and development center in March 2025 in the city’s Economic-Technological Development Area, its third in China. Its stated goal is to include China in Pfizer’s global early-stage trials and all pivotal phase III studies, so that new drugs can be approved in China at the same time as elsewhere.
A long-term plan for China
At the China International Import Expo in November 2024, Pfizer China’s president, Jean-Christophe Pointeau, announced a five-year plan: “We will invest $1 billion, which is about 7.5 billion RMB, in China for the period of five years.” The money funds R&D, clinical trials and efforts to raise diagnosis and treatment standards.
Why Pfizer is changing its China strategy
Price cuts on mature drugs. Pfizer’s 10-K warns that the expansion of quality consistency evaluations and volume-based procurement (VBP) in China “has and may continue to result in price cuts and volume loss of some of our products.” Off-patent brands, once large earners in Chinese hospitals, now compete with low-cost generics.
China’s innovation boom. Chinese developers signed 157 out-licensing deals worth USD 135.7 billion in 2025, as Daxue Consulting described in its analysis of China’s pharmaceutical industry. Global companies that do not shop in China risk missing a large part of new molecules.
Faster approvals. China’s regulator approved 120 new drugs in 2025. Running trials in China from the start helps Pfizer reach Chinese patients earlier and use Chinese data globally.
The end of COVID revenues. Paxlovid and Comirnaty sales collapsed after 2023. Pfizer needs new growth drivers in oncology and obesity, and Chinese licensing is a faster route than in-house discovery.
Benchmark: Pfizer’s China deals against other global drugmakers
Exhibit 2: Large licensing deals with Chinese developers
| Company | Partner | Asset | Upfront | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pfizer | 3SBio | SSGJ-707 (PD-1/VEGF bispecific) | USD 1.25 billion | 2025 |
| Pfizer | YaoPharma (Fosun) | YP05002 (oral GLP-1) | USD 150 million | 2025 |
| Total, all Chinese out-licensing deals | 157 deals | Various | USD 135.7 billion in total value | 2025 |
Source: company announcements; PharmCube via Caixin. Table designed by Daxue Consulting.
Pfizer’s 3SBio payment was among the largest upfront payments ever made to a Chinese developer. It shows that global companies now pay premium prices for Chinese assets, not only for low-cost early-stage deals.
Daxue Take
Pfizer’s China strategy has two sides that do not always fit together. As a seller, it faces procurement price cuts and local competition. As a buyer, it pays Chinese biotechs billions for drugs that could one day compete with its own.
- For global drugmakers, scouting Chinese biotech pipelines is now a core part of business development, not an option.
- Off-patent brands in China need a new channel plan: retail pharmacies, private hospitals and online health platforms, where VBP pressure is lower.
- Early inclusion of Chinese patients in global trials can cut years from Chinese approval. Pfizer’s Beijing center is built for this.
- Chinese partners are no longer junior. Deal terms, royalties and Chinese commercial rights now reflect their bargaining power.
The American giant still sells in China. Its next growth may come from what it buys there.
FAQ about Pfizer in China
How big is Pfizer’s business in China? China represented 5% of Pfizer’s total revenue in 2025, up from 4% in 2024, making it Pfizer’s largest market outside the United States, according to its annual report. On USD 62.6 billion of total revenue, this implies about USD 3.1 billion.
What did Pfizer license from 3SBio? SSGJ-707, a PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody for cancers including lung and colorectal cancer. Pfizer paid USD 1.25 billion upfront in 2025 and holds global rights outside China, with an option on China.
What is Pfizer’s China 2030 plan? A five-year plan announced in November 2024 to invest USD 1 billion in China, including R&D, clinical trials and support for diagnosis and treatment standards.
Where does Pfizer do research in China? Pfizer has three R&D centers in China, including one in Beijing opened in March 2025 in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area.
How does volume-based procurement affect Pfizer in China? Pfizer’s 10-K says China’s VBP program and quality consistency evaluations have caused price cuts and volume losses for some products, mainly off-patent drugs facing generic competition.
Pfizer and Daxue Consulting
Daxue Consulting has followed Pfizer in China since its early profile of the company, and analyzes China’s pharmaceutical industry, procurement and licensing trends. For healthcare clients, Daxue Consulting conducts interviews with physicians, hospital pharmacists and distributors, market research and partner scouting. Pfizer’s official site in China: pfizer.com.cn. Contact our team to discuss a project.
Author: Daxue Consulting
