CIIE Countdown: 4,142 Overseas Exhibitors and a New Story in the Pharma Halls — China Innovating 'In Reverse'

From 5 to 10 November, the 9th China International Import Expo opens in Shanghai: 4,142 overseas exhibitors, exhibition space above 440,000 sqm for the first time, and a record 480-plus launches in the medical devices and pharmaceutical halls. Two bellwether shifts define this edition: multinationals are putting unapproved pipelines on stage (Novartis's Ianalumab makes its global public debut), and Chinese R&D is being exported by MNCs (Sanofi partnering with Sino-Pacific's rovadicitinib programme for rare blood disorders). As China moves from end market to innovation source, Chinese CXDMOs shift from 'taking on capacity' to 'the starting point of global pipelines'.

From 5 to 10 November, the 9th China International Import Expo (CIIE) opens at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai: 162 countries, regions and international organisations, 4,142 overseas exhibitors and, for the first time, more than 440,000 square metres of exhibition space. The medical devices and pharmaceuticals halls remain the densest concentration of innovation: over 480 global launches, Asian debuts and China first-showings, a record for the expo; the drug zone gathers 12 Fortune Global 500 pharma companies, with 16 of the world's top 20 drugmakers attending.

Shift one: pipelines, not just products, on the stand

Past CIIE debuts were mostly approved products waiting to enter China. This year marks a bellwether turn: several companies are exhibiting candidates not yet approved in any market. Novartis places its immunology candidate Ianalumab at the centre of its stand — a Sjögren's disease drug still without a Chinese name, making its first public showing in China and globally. First-time exhibitor CSL Behring brings four China-debut products: ANDEMBRY (garadacimab), the first monoclonal antibody inhibitor targeting activated factor XII, a 2026 US Galien Prize 'Best Biotechnology Product' nominee whose marketing application has been accepted by CDE; plus HEMGENIX, the first one-time gene therapy for adults with severe and moderately severe haemophilia B, among others.

Shift two: China as an innovation source, not just an end market

Sanofi will exhibit for the first time a globally first-in-class Category 1 new drug developed with Sino Biopharmaceutical subsidiary Chia Tai Tianqing — rovadicitinib tablets for a rare haematological disease: developed by a Chinese company, then carried to the global market by an MNC. According to the company, Chinese sites now participate in more than 90% of Sanofi's global simultaneous development projects. It is not an isolated case: from Sanofi and Novartis to Boston Scientific, multinationals are upgrading China from a pure end market to an innovation source, and Sino-foreign collaboration is moving from single asset licensing toward ecosystem building across co-development, high-end manufacturing and open innovation.

Shift three: landing channels thicken — and where CXDMO sits

The receiving end is evolving too. Hainan's Boao Lecheng pilot zone attends its eighth CIIE, having introduced over 620 international innovative drugs and devices under its special-licence regime, and is building a full-chain model of 'licensed use, real-world research, registration and launch, insurance access, local manufacturing'; the Greater Bay Area's 'Hong Kong-Macau Medicine and Equipment Connect' links ever more tightly with CIIE debuts. For the CXDMO industry there is a seat at every link: Chinese out-licensing reached roughly USD 130 billion in the first three quarters of 2026, and as 'developed in China, globalised by MNCs' becomes the default deal structure, capacity ownership, cross-border supply access and country-of-origin compliance — acute under Section 232 tariffs — are becoming standard clauses. These are exactly the issues that have recurred in the large ADC licensing deals of the past two years.

Editor's view: the expo is a thermometer for industry relations

The evolving narrative across nine CIIE editions mirrors a shift in the industry's power structure: 'bringing the world's medicines into China' and 'taking Chinese molecules to the world' are happening at once. As Chinese R&D becomes part of the global pipeline, Chinese CXDMOs move from 'absorbing capacity' to 'one of the starting points of the global pipeline'. Every additional investigational asset on a stand is a leading indicator of outsourcing demand over the next three to five years — especially when the global trials and commercial supply of those assets may land on Chinese capacity.