Journey East: How Chinese Returnees Build Global-Bound Biopharmas

From Money To Talent To Collaboration, Challenges Keep Coming

As Chinese returnees transform their startups to fully-fledged biopharma operations with a full product lineup and the global market in sight, the journey has been filled with challenges. Based on interviews and on-the-ground reporting, this new series takes a closer look at several companies' experiences.

Business uncertainty and risk showing a winding road high above the clouds showing the concept of danger and challenges faced in business and the corporate world of finance and financial services.
CHINESE BIOTECH TO BIOPHARMA JOURNEY FILLED WITH CHALLENGES • Source: Shutterstock

After spending eight years with Merck & Co., Inc. in the US as a senior researcher, Zhongru Gan felt he was ready to start something new. In 1994, Gan founded a small biotech, Gantech Pharma, in the US but the next year returned to China knowing there was an acute need for high-level life science researchers like himself.

The first thing he did upon returning was collaborate with his classmate from Peking University, Yikui Lee, then CEO of...

More from Global Vision

More from In Vivo

Deals In Depth: June 2025

 
• By 

Five $1bn+ alliances were penned in June, and four exceeded $2bn.

Global Pharma Interest In Korea Undeterred Despite Political Roller Coaster

 
• By 

Despite recent political turmoil, outside investor and corporate interest in South Korean biopharma innovation appears robust or even increasing.

Podcast: Oxolife’s Agnés Arbat, Winner Of The European Prize For Women Innovators

 
• By 

Agnès Arbat, CEO of Oxolife and winner of the EU Women Innovators Prize, joins In Vivo to discuss OXO-001, a novel non-hormonal treatment aimed at improving embryo implantation in IVF. She shares insights from her biotech journey and the future of fertility innovation.