Top Shanghai officials promise more support for biopharmaceutical industry

Shanghai's top officials pledged further support for the biopharmaceutical industry for domestic and multinational pharmaceutical companies while also vowing to better facilitate academic and business exchanges.

Deputy Secretary General of the Shanghai government Shang Yuying said on Monday that the city strives to enhance the capability for research and commercialization, thus they will introduce a series of supportive measures so local companies can better connect with overseas firms.

"Shanghai will always keep up supportive measures for multinational pharmaceutical companies to set up open collaboration platforms and other types of innovative new business entities," she said at the Forum on Innovation of Shanghai Foreign-Invested Pharmaceutical Enterprises.

"We also encourage more academic and business exchanges between home and abroad companies," she said.

According to the Shanghai Science Commission, the city's biomedical industry size jumped 22.6 percent from 2021 to 933.7 billion yuan (US$132 billion) in 2023, and the manufacturing output value reached 186 billion yuan, up 8 percent compared with 2021.

As part of the ongoing annual International Biopharma Industry Week Shanghai, keynote speeches were given and discussions took place about how digital and smart technologies would empower industry innovation.

Shang said government authorities have received positive feedback about a series of stimulus measures released earlier this year. She added plans are in place to further leverage coordinated efforts at both the city and district level to ensure a favorable business environment.

Boehringer Ingelheim China President and Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Tawil said the company is pleased to see the city government is using pilot programs to facilitate cross-border data flows and exploring the application of big data in both drug research and development, and medical insurance.

"City governments and departments are keenly aware of the trend of digitalization and AI, which holds immerse potential, and we are willing to share our experience and practices to promote the high-quality development of the industry," he said.

The forum hosted by the Shanghai Foreign Investment Association, Shanghai Medical Association and Minhang District also heard discussions from government authorities including the health bureau, big data bureau and medical insurance bodies.

According to the city's 2024-2027 industry action plan published in late October, Shanghai is considering support for local biopharmaceutical companies to have new drugs and medical devices approved in overseas markets.

The action plan focuses on research and development in the areas of "synthetic biology, cell and gene therapy, nucleic acid drugs and brain-computer interfaces", as well as artificial intelligence supported pharmaceuticals.

The new initiative aims to generate 50 billion yuan from medical product exports by 2027, with up to three local companies expected to achieve more than 10 billion yuan in annual sales in overseas markets.