BeiGene has become the first China-listed drugmaker to enter the US most-favored-nation pricing program, selling tislelizumab at negotiated Medicaid prices that reach about 8 percent of its American patients. The voluntary deal spares core product zanubrutinib, limiting the financial impact, but locks all future innovative drugs to international price parity.
BeiGene agreed to cut tislelizumab prices for 8 percent of its US patients, becoming the first China-listed drugmaker to join Washington's most-favored-nation pricing program.
"The event's impact on BeiGene's total revenue is very limited," Nathaniel, an analyst at Citi, said in a research report.
The voluntary agreement, announced Aug. 31 alongside eight other drugmakers including Teva, Sun Pharma and Astellas, covers only tislelizumab (Tevimbra) through the Medicaid public insurance program, reaching about 8 percent of the drug's US approved-indication patients. Tislelizumab generated 2.984 billion yuan ($444 million) in global sales in the first half, about 13.4 percent of revenue, while core product zanubrutinib (Brukinsa) delivered 16.127 billion yuan, or roughly 73 percent, with US sales of 11.39 billion yuan exceeding half of total revenue. Zanubrutinib was excluded because all five of its US indications carry orphan-drug designation, shielding it from Medicare price negotiation under the Inflation Reduction Act.
The deal commits BeiGene and the other eight companies to most-favored-nation pricing for all future innovative drugs sold in the US, tying prices to the lowest procurement levels in other developed nations. That exposes Chinese drugmakers to international price-linkage risk and pressures the premium-pricing assumption underpinning license-out deals, where US rights are sold to multinationals. The program now spans 26 companies covering 89 percent of the US branded-drug market, with $19.6 billion in promised US manufacturing investment.
For BeiGene, the move trades limited product exposure for access to the US public payment system and possible tariff relief, echoing Eli Lilly's three-year import-tariff exemption after its 2025 GLP-1 deal. "Trading price for volume faces significant pressure, requiring a substantial increase in volume to offset price losses," Wang Pengyu, a healthcare investor, said, urging Chinese companies to look beyond the US. BeiGene has committed $1.1 billion to a New Jersey manufacturing and R&D campus, including $300 million added in July.
Investors will watch whether tislelizumab's post-cut volume growth offsets the price reduction and whether zanubrutinib is eventually pulled into the framework, which would test the roughly 11.39 billion yuan of US revenue it generates. Sino Biopharmaceutical, meanwhile, signed a licensing deal Aug. 31 with India's Cipla for TQB2102 across seven emerging markets, its second such regional agreement bringing about $30 million in upfront and milestone payments — a sign some Chinese drugmakers are steering around US pricing policy toward faster-growing markets outside the US and Europe.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
