AstraZeneca has been drawn back to drug development innovation in China after accelerating its rate of licensing deals with biotechs in the country over the past few months. Meanwhile, the UK multinational has also been building a network ecosystem together with a Chinese investment bank to take a long-term view in the country, a senior R&D executive told Scrip in an interview.

While most of the R&D attention in the hot space of claudins has focused on targeting CLDN18.2, the Swiss biotech believes its CLDN1 programs have the advantage of a broader expression profile.

The recent partnerships on Claudin 18.2-targeting agents between Chinese biotechs and big pharma have brought China innovation to a new phase that Chinese firms can be proud of, an executive from Keymed Biosciences, one of the Chinese biotechs involved in such deals, tells Scrip in an interview.

Already a major player in the field thanks to Enhertu, AstraZeneca is doubling down in gastric cancer with the new antibody-drug conjugate deal with China’s KYM Biosciences.