Rushing to America

Biotechs in the U.S. are seeing a surge of interest from Chinese investors that reflects myriad motives. These range from a desire to access assets to serve a domestic market that is hungry for innovative products to the chance to take advantage of a financial arbitrage opportunity.

Investors with a strategic bent are putting capital to work in companies with innovative products that could be growth drivers in China, where the appetite for innovative drugs far outstrips domestic companies' nascent innovative R&D and partnering activity. ...