Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has described China's biopharmaceutical ecosystem as «remarkable» at a CNBC forum, advocating US regulatory reform and stability over tariffs and pricing policies to maintain competitiveness. Bourla highlighted China's substantial investments in intellectual property protection, regulatory improvements and university infrastructure noting Chinese patent applications surpassed US filings last year. Pfizer plans USD 1 billion investment in China over five years while participating in its homeland's most favoured nation drug pricing programme, acknowledging political realities.

Bourla noted vaccine approvals face greater challenges than therapeutics under the current US administration, characterising it as «an anomaly that will correct itself», with positive vaccine stance. The CEO emphasised pharmaceutical manufacturing as a national security concern with 30% of US drug production domestically sourced, citing a US Pharmacopeia report identifying Chinese dominance in amoxicillin and penicillin active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Single-country dependency affects 17% of US approved drug components, requiring supply chain resilience strategies.