Western pharmaceutical companies and investors are driving a record number of licensing deals with Chinese drugmakers struggling to fund late-stage drug development and global expansion. What Happened: According to UBS Research, companies like Merck (NYSE:MRK), GSK (NYSE:GSK), and AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) signed a record $44.1 billion in biotech licensing deals last year, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The trend continues in 2024, with $9.8 billion worth of deals in the first quarter. Western pharma companies are expanding their product pipelines as they face patent expirations of luc…
