The med-tech industry has seen a surge in financings activities in the first four months of 2024.

By now, the story of last year’s dismal U.S. capital markets is hardly news. But when combined with increasing regulatory stresses, especially for biopharma and med-tech startups, there are elements of that story giving some Street-watchers pause, even as the market begins to show a few signs of recovery.

The BioWorld Cancer Index (BCI) closed out the first quarter of 2024 with a 4.66% increase, slightly down from its 11.07% rise at the end of February. This comes after an outstanding performance in 2023, when it finished the year up by 76.26%. Despite outperforming the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, which rose by 1.36% in Q1, BCI lagged behind the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which saw a 5.62% increase in the first three months of the year. In contrast, BCI experienced a decline of 41.98% in 2022 and a 36.34% decrease in 1021.

As of Jan. 31, 2024, there were more than 300 CAR T trials registered in China, surpassing the U.S. and becoming the country with the most CAR T therapy clinical trials. Among them, CD19 is the most frequently studied target, according to BioWorld and Cortellis. The rapid evolution of CAR T-cell therapies in China has escalated over the past decade from the start of the first clinical trials in 2013 to the country becoming an established host for CAR T-cell-related trials by 2017, according to Yongxian Hu and researchers from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China. Chinese cell therapy companies – backed by $2.37 billion in funding in 2021 – have since significantly increased basic research and trial output for CAR Ts, which was welcomed by large patient demand.

China’s CAR T market is expected to grow from $72 million in 2022 to $342 million over the next decade. There are currently more than 400 CAR T therapies in the pipeline in China, and most of these are being developed by specialized Chinese biotechs. Research by Clarivate plc, BioWorld’s parent company, indicates that a notable proportion of CAR T-cell therapies in late-phase development in China are being developed through strategic partnerships and joint ventures between multinational corporations and domestic companies, including Johnson & Johnson and Nanjing Legend Biotech Corp., Juno Therapeutics Inc. and Wuxi Apptec Co. Ltd., and CASI Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Juventas Cell Therapy Ltd.