This issue reviews the relevant content of RWA in the biopharmaceutical project for reference.
While innovators in the biopharmaceutical field are still tirelessly exploring the next revolutionary molecule in the laboratory, a profound change in the capital and trust system is quietly taking place. The Boston Consulting Group report pointed out that by 2030, the global real-world asset (RWA) tokenization market size may reach a staggering $8 trillion. In this transformation, the biopharmaceutical industry is becoming a natural fertile ground for RWA applications with its unique high-value and long-cycle asset characteristics. How can traditional industries take advantage of RWA? The answer may be hidden in the silent digital revolution of biopharmaceuticals.

1. RWA: A new engine for the reconstruction of trust and value release in traditional industries
The core of RWA is to digitally represent and tokenize real assets in the physical world (such as real estate, equipment, bonds, intellectual property, etc.) through blockchain technology, so that they have the potential for on-chain circulation, segmentation, and trading. For traditional heavy asset industries such as biopharmaceuticals, RWA is far more than a technical concept. It is reconstructing the industry trust system and releasing deep value.
Penetrating trust construction: from black box to transparency. The R&D and production process of biopharmaceuticals is complex and lengthy, involving huge capital investment. External investors often find it difficult to penetrate the layers of information fog, resulting in serious information asymmetry. Relying on the immutable and traceable characteristics of blockchain, RWA can safely and desensitize key R&D milestone data (such as preclinical experimental results, progress of each stage of clinical trials, GMP production records, patent status, etc.) and anchor them on the chain. This builds an unprecedented transparent framework that allows investors, regulators, and partners to penetrate the "black box" and verify the status of the project in real time, greatly enhancing the foundation of internal and external trust.
Ecological boundary expansion: from isolated islands to global liquidity. Biopharmaceutical projects are highly dependent on capital-intensive investment, and traditional financing channels (such as VC, PE, IPO) have high thresholds, long cycles, and obvious geographical restrictions. RWA tokenization can convert biopharmaceutical assets (such as future income rights of specific drugs, patent portfolios, and even molecular entities under development) into on-chain tokens. These tokens can be traded 24/7 on compliant digital asset exchanges, instantly reaching qualified investors around the world, breaking through the limitations of geography and traditional financial intermediaries, injecting unprecedented liquidity into R&D, and greatly expanding the scope of the business ecosystem and financing efficiency.
Transaction cost revolution: from cumbersome to intelligent and efficient. The biopharmaceutical industry chain is long, involving multiple parties such as R&D institutions, CROs (contract research organizations), CDMOs (contract development and production organizations), raw material suppliers, and distributors. The traditional contract execution, payment settlement, and equity distribution processes are cumbersome and have high friction costs. Based on RWA and smart contracts, payments, royalty distribution, data sharing, and other operations can be automatically triggered when preset conditions are met (such as clinical trials reaching endpoints, regulatory approval, and reaching sales milestones). Morgan Stanley research shows that this automation can significantly reduce transaction friction, reduce manual intervention and disputes, and improve operational efficiency by more than 30%.
Second, three-dimensional evaluation: What kind of traditional projects are ideal targets for RWA?
Not all traditional industry projects are naturally suitable for embracing RWA. Their adaptability is highly dependent on the digital genes and business forms of the project itself. We believe that a project's data-driven capabilities, intelligent transaction potential, and ecological expansion needs constitute the core three dimensions for evaluating whether it is suitable for operating RWA. Biopharmaceutical projects happen to show significant advantages in these three dimensions:
Dimension 1: Strength of data-driven business capabilities
Core requirements: The core business processes of the project are highly dependent on data generation, collection, analysis and decision-making. Asset value or business logic can be effectively mapped and quantified by high-quality data. Biopharmaceuticals have the following points of convergence.
Data-intensive nature: From target screening, molecular design, preclinical trials (in vivo and in vitro efficacy, toxicology, pharmacokinetics) to Phase I-III clinical trials (patient data, efficacy, safety), to post-marketing real-world research (RWE), the entire process of biopharmaceutical R&D and production generates massive amounts of structured and unstructured data.
Clear value mapping: Clinical data is the core proof of drug value, directly affecting regulatory approval and commercial prospects. Critical process parameters (CPP) and quality attribute (CQA) data in the production process are directly related to product quality and compliance. These data are naturally the basis for quantifying asset value (such as pipeline valuation, patent value, and production facility value).
How does RWA empower? Anchoring key data (such as verified clinical trial results summary, patent certificate hash, GMP-compliant production batch record summary) on the chain provides solid, transparent and verifiable value support for the RWA token issued based on the biopharmaceutical asset. Investors subscribe to digital shares that clearly map the value of the underlying data.
Dimension 2: Potential of business automation and intelligent transaction capabilities
Core requirements: There are clear and programmable rules and trigger conditions in the business process, which are suitable for automatic execution through smart contracts to reduce manual intervention and trust friction. Biopharmaceuticals also have a fit.
Complex collaboration and milestone payments: Biopharmaceutical R&D and production are highly dependent on external collaboration (CRO, CDMO), and contracts involve a large number of milestone-based payments (such as completion of preclinical studies, submission of IND, completion of specific phase clinical trials, NDA/BLA approval, and reaching sales targets). The rules for equity distribution (such as patent licensing fees and sales sharing) are also clear.
Clear trigger conditions: These milestones and distribution rules usually have clear and verifiable achievement standards (such as regulatory approval numbers, third-party audit reports, and sales data interfaces).
How does RWA empower? Associate the on-chain identities (DID) of partners, investors, and stakeholders with RWA-based payment/distribution tokens. Use Oracle to securely obtain off-chain verification data (such as regulatory database information, audited sales report APIs), trigger smart contracts to automatically execute payments, distribute tokenized income or royalties. Achieve "payment/distribution when conditions are met", greatly improve efficiency, and reduce disputes and settlement costs.
Dimension Three: Breadth and Demand of Ecosystem Expansion Capabilities
Core Requirements: Project development requires extensive connections with external partners, capital parties, users/customers, and there is a strong need to break information silos, integrate resources, and attract diversified participants. Assets themselves have divisibility requirements or need to enhance liquidity.Biopharmaceuticals also have a point of fit.
Long cycle and high capital demand: It takes an average of more than 10 years for a biopharmaceutical to go from R&D to market, costing billions of dollars. Traditional financing channels are limited and costly.
GlobalizationAttributes: R&D, clinical trials, production, and sales often span multiple countries and regions, requiring the integration of global resources.
Fragmented investment demand: High costs make it difficult for a single institution to bear all the risks, and there is an urgent need to attract a wider and more diversified group of investors (including small and medium-sized institutions and high-net-worth individuals) to share risks and benefits. Existing assets (such as future income rights of mature products and idle production capacity) have poor liquidity.
How does RWA empower? Global liquidity pool: Tokenize biopharmaceutical assets (such as equity in a specific R&D pipeline, future licensing income rights of a patent, and production capacity use rights of a production facility), open investment to qualified investors around the world through a compliant digital securities trading platform (STO), break geographical restrictions, and gather "long-tail capital".
Asset division and combination: High-value biopharmaceutical assets (such as the franchise rights of blockbuster drugs) can be divided into small-denomination tokens, lowering the investment threshold and allowing investors to flexibly build a diversified investment portfolio (such as investing in early pipeline tokens in multiple different therapeutic areas).
Ecological collaboration platform: Based on RWA's shared ledger and token incentive mechanism, a more transparent and efficient industrial collaboration platform can be built (such as connecting early-stage research and development of universities, CROs, CDMOs, distributors, and data providers) to promote the trusted circulation and exchange of data, resources, and value.
III. Case conception: BIO Biology—RWA empowers the paradigm shift in new drug research and development
Imagine an innovative biotechnology company "BIO Biology" that focuses on tumor immunotherapy. Its core pipeline is a bispecific antibody drug with breakthrough potential. It is in Phase II clinical trials and urgently needs a large amount of funds to promote Phase III clinical trials and subsequent commercialization.
RWA structure design. The underlying assets are the right to a portion of the future global sales revenue of the bispecific drug (such as 15%) + the authenticity of the key clinical trial data of Phase II/III (the key result summary hash is on the chain).
in the form of a token, a security token (ST) that complies with the regulation is issued, representing the share ownership of the above future income.
three-dimensional empowerment embodiment. Data-driven (trust), clinical trial data is verified by independent third-party audit nodes for key results (such as ORR, OS data), and the summary hash and audit report fingerprint are anchored on the chain. Investors can verify the integrity of the data and the authenticity of the trial progress at any time, greatly enhancing their trust in the value of the pipeline and the endorsement of the token.
Smart Transaction (Efficiency): Smart Contract Settings:Automatic Allocation:When a drug is approved for marketing, the audited quarterly global sales data is accessed through the oracle, and the smart contract automatically calculates and distributes the corresponding proportion (15%) of the revenue (in stable currency or legal currency channel) to all token holders' wallets.
Milestone Release: When a portion of the funds reaches key milestones such as completion of Phase III clinical trial enrollment and successful NDA submission, the smart contract will automatically release them to Novartis Bio, ensuring that the funds are efficiently used for R&D advancement.
Ecosystem expansion (scope and cost): Global financing: Tokens are issued to qualified investors around the world through compliant platforms, quickly raising hundreds of millions of dollars, far exceeding the amount that traditional regional VC rounds may raise, and the investor composition is more diverse (including crypto funds focusing on biopharmaceuticals, Asian family offices, etc.).
Lowering the threshold: Splitting high-value future income rights into smaller denomination tokens (such as $1,000 per share) to attract a wider range of investors to participate and spread risks.
Eco-cooperation incentives: Reserve some tokens to incentivize key partners (such as top CROs responsible for international multi-center clinical trials and distributors in major markets), bind their on-chain contributions (such as high-quality and timely completion of trial center enrollment and achievement of regional sales targets) with token rewards, and build a closer, more reliable and efficient collaborative network.
Fourth, Challenges and Future: Exploring with Caution
The road for biopharmaceuticals to embrace RWA is not a smooth one. In terms of supervision, the issuance, trading, and KYC/AML requirements of security tokens vary greatly and evolve rapidly in various countries, and the compliance costs are high. It is necessary to communicate deeply with regulators and explore sandbox mechanisms. In terms of technology integration,ensuring seamless, secure, and trustworthy connection between on-chain data anchoring and off-chain real business processes (such as complex clinical trial data management and GMP production) requires strong IT infrastructure and standards.In terms of market awareness,traditional biopharmaceutical investors and practitioners need to be educated to understand the value and risks of the RWA model. Establishing a reliable valuation model is particularly important for early pipelines.In terms of complianceand security,sensitive clinical trial and patient data must be handled with extreme caution to ensure compliance with regulations such as GDPR and HIPAA, and the use of privacy computing technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs is crucial.
Of course, challenges cannot conceal its huge potential. With the continuous clarification of the global regulatory framework, the continuous influx of institutional players, and the continuous breakthroughs in underlying technologies such as privacy computing, the application of RWA in traditional high-value industries such as biopharmaceuticals, which are data-intensive, capital-intensive, and collaboration-intensive, will accelerate and deepen. In the future industrial competition landscape, projects with a strong data-driven core, actively embracing automated intelligent transactions, and good at using RWA to expand the global capital and collaboration ecosystem will be more likely to gain the upper hand in the revolution of efficiency and trust.