The life sciences industry is undergoing a significant value reassessment, driven by AI's accelerated entry into clinical settings, a surge in global innovation deals, a shift in medical devices from domestic substitution to original innovation, and the real-world application of brain-computer interfaces. This was the central theme of the 20th Frost & Sullivan Global Growth, Innovation, and Leadership Summit, held in Shanghai from August 4th to 5th.
On August 5th, the Life Sciences New Investment Summit Forum, a key part of the event, featured parallel sessions on biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and health technology. Industry, research, and capital market participants discussed technological innovation, industrial transformation, globalization, and commercial viability. Unlike past events emphasizing single technological breakthroughs, the forum's consensus was clear: clinical value, platform capabilities, global markets, and sustainable commercialization are now the new benchmarks for assessing the long-term value of life sciences companies.
Wang Chenhui, Managing Partner and President of Frost & Sullivan China, described the health technology session as a "future forum." He noted that as AI technology is adopted, healthcare professionals are expanding their product and service boundaries, and non-medical players are entering the health industry. The fusion of healthcare with AI, R&D, and other sectors will create "new species." However, the truly scarce resource in medicine is not general information, but structured, clean, and auditable professional knowledge. Establishing trusted data and public knowledge bases will be crucial infrastructure for AI's future in healthcare.
This assessment is already evident in medical imaging. Wu Chengfa, Board Secretary of Deshi Vision, pointed out that while medical imaging equipment and data are growing rapidly, the number of doctors and their training speed cannot keep pace, leading to high misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis rates, especially in primary care. Over the past decade, of the thousands of imaging projects relying on single-organ, single-disease models, only a small fraction have achieved true intelligence. His company is attempting to use a foundational large model to connect data, expert experience, and clinical workflows, enabling faster sub-model creation from smaller datasets. Wu believes AI's value lies not just in helping doctors "see faster," but in allowing top experts' experience to be captured, replicated, and deployed to the grassroots level.
Chen Bingchao, Vice President of Neusoft Medical Systems and Director of its Innovation Research Institute, emphasized that medical AI must move beyond being a single identification tool and integrate into the complete workflow of examination, scanning, quality control, diagnosis, and report generation. She noted that generative AI still faces uncertainties in responsibility and regulation. For broader application, it requires exploring higher levels of independent use in specific scenarios and having a supportive payment system. "The end of technology is governance," she said, adding that human-machine collaboration will become the norm, but regulation and medical insurance reimbursement must keep pace.
As AI reshapes R&D and clinical processes, the capital market's evaluation of life sciences is also changing. Jiang Jialie, Vice President of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), stated that biotechnology is one of the industries most in need of patient capital and long-termism. Since the introduction of Chapter 18A, Hong Kong has become a significant global biotech fundraising center. She stressed that for life sciences companies with long R&D cycles, refinancing ability is crucial. The market must not only help companies with their initial public offerings but also provide continuous "blood supply" for subsequent R&D. This means capital now looks beyond a single pipeline, focusing on a company's ability to innovate continuously and build long-term growth capacity.
Chen Shaoxiong, Executive President and Secretary-General of the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Profession Association, stated from the industry perspective that China's biopharmaceutical sector is shifting from "imitation and innovation" to "innovation-led." The growth in technology licensing deals results from the combined effects of policy support, capital markets, corporate accumulation, and global demand from pharmaceutical companies. However, he cautioned that much current innovation remains combinatorial or convergent, and basic research and original innovation capabilities still need strengthening. Ultimately, technological breakthroughs must enter the clinic and solve real pain points, requiring patient capital, policy coordination, review mechanisms, and a supportive industry ecosystem, all of which are indispensable.
Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (600276) Director and Executive Vice President Zhang Lianshan believes Chinese pharmaceutical companies are progressing from the me-too and me-better stages towards innovations with first-in-class and best-in-class potential. HENGRUI PHARMA is continuously building platforms for small nucleic acids, gene therapy, bispecific antibodies, ADCs, and protein degradation. Simultaneously, it is expanding its presence in chronic diseases and neuroscience. Zhang stated that discovering entirely new targets still depends on basic research accumulation and improved AI capabilities. True internationalization, he added, cannot be understood simply as licensing out a single asset; companies must build global capabilities in R&D, registration, operations, and commercialization.
In the medical device sector, the investment logic has moved beyond simple import substitution. Yang Zhenjun, CEO of Newbridge Capital, predicts that volume-based procurement and industry consolidation are irreversible. Companies that can survive the next cycle will need to combine commercialization, innovation, overseas expansion, and integration capabilities. While China has a large aging population and an engineering talent dividend, payment constraints mean cost control remains a long-term theme. Import substitution is nearly complete in many areas, so the next phase requires original innovation and globalization to open new growth space.
Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) represent another side of the life sciences field: long cycles and high imagination. Hao Shuai, Senior Director of the Healthcare Division at Frost & Sullivan China, stated that BCI is moving from unidirectional reading to bidirectional closed-loop reading and feedback, and towards multi-modal fusion. Future competition will not be simply between a single electrode, chip, or algorithm, but an ecological competition involving stable acquisition, precise decoding, effective feedback, clinical validation, and industrial collaboration. Medical scenarios establish current value, while consumer applications will likely determine the long-term ceiling.
Based on discussions from multiple forum speakers, the new investment logic for life sciences is becoming more stringent. Key criteria for capital to judge a company's value now include: whether a technology can enter real clinical use, whether it can form a replicable platform, whether it can secure regulatory and payment support, and whether it can reach global markets. These factors are replacing simple concept popularity. For companies, technological breakthroughs are only the starting point. The true differentiator in the next phase of competition will be the ability to transform innovation into products that are accessible to patients, recognized by the market, and can be continuously iterated upon.
Comments