The number of R&D pipelines in the domestic innovative drug industry is growing rapidly, and with it, problems of homogenized projects and the accumulation of popular targets have arisen. A large number of enterprises simultaneously promote drug research and development with highly similar structures and curative effects, and invest large amounts of capital and clinical resources to repeat projects at a low level to form a “target volume”. Entering 2026, the industry ushered in a series of transformations: the competent authorities guided R&D back to clinical value by improving a series of systems; some enterprises actively evaluated pipeline value, terminated ongoing research projects that lacked differentiated advantages, and spontaneously started clearing the pipeline. The industry is shifting from “quantity competition” to “quality competition” in the pipeline, exploring the path of breaking the game from follow-on innovation to innovation at the source.

The number of R&D pipelines in the domestic innovative drug industry is growing rapidly, and with it, problems of homogenized projects and the accumulation of popular targets have arisen. A large number of enterprises simultaneously promote drug research and development with highly similar structures and curative effects, and invest large amounts of capital and clinical resources to repeat projects at a low level to form a “target volume”. Entering 2026, the industry ushered in a series of transformations: the competent authorities guided R&D back to clinical value by improving a series of systems; some enterprises actively evaluated pipeline value, terminated ongoing research projects that lacked differentiated advantages, and spontaneously started clearing the pipeline. The industry is shifting from “quantity competition” to “quality competition” in the pipeline, exploring the path of breaking the game from follow-on innovation to innovation at the source.