Despite being the world’s second biggest market for drugs function, quality healthcare in China has been hindered by red tape, lack of patient rules and underinvestment. But with wave of new changes to approval processes, is the country finally opening up?

We also take a look at the low uptake of biosimilars in the US to find out what regulatory steps need to be taken to boost adoption in the country; profile TriNetX, a global health research network that uses real-world patient data from electronic health records, tumour registries and pathology reports to improve clinical research efforts; examine a new method of manufacturing proteins outside of a cell, and take a look at a drug-based solution to America’s war with opioid addiction.

Plus, we speak to the researchers behind a new drug combination for the treatment of hepatitis C, investigate the role of AI in pharma, examine whether poor animal research studies are compromising human health and review the results of a survey on pricing strategies for gene and cell therapies.

Eloise McLennan, editor