This week in charts: GSK’s China deals, the $300M IPO club and selling the news

This is the latest installment in a new series where BioPharma Dive uses data visualization to recap what’s going on across the industry. Today, we’re looking at a spurt of China licensing deals from GSK, Electra Therapeutics’ big IPO and how investors responded to Scholar Rock’s long-awaited drug approval. Over the last couple years, the pharmaceutical industry has rushed to scoop up drugs discovered in China. More than 100 deals have been struck, according to BioPharma Dive data, a trend that’s sparked concern among U.S. lawmakers as well as debate among biotech executives and investors. Since the start of 2025, GSK has looked to China more than most of its peers. Data show that the company has struck five such deals over that span with China-based drug developers, trailing only Roche. Two of those pacts have come this month, and both involve next-generation cancer medicines involving different kinds of antibody technology. An alliance with Hutchmed gave GSK rights to an “antibody-targeted therapy conjugate,” a twist on the antibody-drug conjugates that are now commonly used in cancer care. A pact with Chimagen Biosciences handed the company a three-pronged myeloma drug. GSK’s China dealmaking could soon pay dividends, too. A drug prominently featured at the World Conference on Lung Cancer last weekend came to GSK via a 2023 partnership with Hansoh Pharma. Jefferies analyst Michael Leuchten recently referred to that drug as an “underappreciated, potentially major oncology asset.” GSK is investing heavily in drugs from China It’s no secret now that biotech initial public offerings have rebounded in 2026. More than 20 companies have priced new stock sales this year, almost doubling 2025’s anemic total, BioPharma Dive data show. Most trade well above their debut price. But the pace of offerings this year is merely approaching, rather than blowing past, historical norms. What’s different is the size of these IPOs, which approaches what was last seen during the sector’s bubbly pandemic peak. Electra Therapeutics’ stock offering Thursday night was the latest example. In pricing its IPO, Electra became the 11th drugmaker to raise at least $300 million in proceeds. That figure matches 2021’s total — a record year for biotech IPOs — and surpasses the previous four years combined. Biotech IPOs have regularly topped $300M in 2026 Scholar Rock hit a milestone a week ago. The 14-year-old biotechnology company last Friday won its first regulatory approval with the U.S. clearance of Isembyld, a first-of-its-kind “muscle-targeted” treatment for the rare disease spinal muscular atrophy. In the process, Scholar Rock overcame a manufacturing issue that led to an earlier rejection of Isembyld and a year-long delay. Wall Street analysts have long viewed Isembyld as a possible blockbuster, and the broad prescribing information — endorsing use in all patients at least two years of age and on existing treatments — supported those projections. TD Cowen analyst Ritu Baral, for instance, wrote in a Monday client note that she expects sales to peak at $2.3 billion in 2035. Yet Scholar Rock stock price has swung wildly in both directions since the approval. Shares initially surged to as high as $62 in after-hours trading, fell to around $47, and closed on Thursday at just over $49. One possible reason for the volatility was a disclosure that surprised analysts: a safety warning linking Isembyld to a risk of fractures. That news “generated investor [questions],” wrote Evercore ISI analyst Cory Kasimov, though he and others waved off any meaningful impact on drug sales. Instead, Kasimov attributed the stock slide to a “sell the news dynamic,” when a company’s market value falls just after a positive development such as a regulatory approval.