This episode is brought to you by Shopify. With Shopify, 2026 is the year you make it happen. It gives you the tools to build your dream store, online and in person. Plus with marketing built in, it'll help you reach exactly who you need to. Join the millions who've already made the leap, like Jim Shark and all birds, and ring in the new year with Shopify.

Sign up for your £1 per month trial at shopify.com.uk slash Spotify.

Welcome to the bunker, news Without the Nonsense. I'm Gavin Esler. Remember when during

COVID there were all kinds of Western conspiracy theories and skepticism about China's reaction

to the pandemic, including the failure to respond with COVID vaccinations as rapidly

as happened in the West.

Well, what a difference a couple of years can make. Right now, China's biopharma industry is booming.

In the past, China was seen merely as a cheap manufacturing hub. Now it's emerged as a serious contender

in the race to create the next blockbuster medicines, backed by state funding

and of course the extraordinary ability of the engineers and the Politburo to plan, build,

and back favoured new businesses with a speed that can leave Western competitors open-mouthed.

New pharma facilities have been built in China capable of producing next generation drugs at a scale

that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. In today's bunker, we're going to find out more

from the Financial Times China Technology Correspondent and author of Will the next Blockbuster

Drug come from China, Eleanor Alcott. Eleanor, thanks for joining me on the bunker.

Thank you for having me.

Well, the article was quite extraordinary,

and I think the answer to your question,

will the next blockbuster drug come from China is yes, probably.

So maybe you could give us some of the evidence

showing how quickly China is moving in this.

Yeah, I mean, I think you only need to look at the pipeline that refers to the number of

...