North Shanghai Builds New Medical Valley to Boost Biotech Growth

A new "medical valley" is taking shape in north Shanghai as the city pushes to expand its biopharmaceutical industry.

The initiative, centered in Baoshan District, aims to connect research, hospitals, and manufacturing to speed medical innovation from the lab to the market.

The 2025 Meilan Lake Biopharmaceutical Innovation Conference opened on Wednesday. As part of Shanghai's International Biopharma Industry Week, the event focused on how north Shanghai can become a key hub for life sciences.

Baoshan launched a new platform for precision medical equipment and an industrial cluster zone. It also plans to set up clinical research centers and medical-engineering labs to turn scientific breakthroughs into real-world treatments faster.

Baoshan District Director Deng Xiaodong said the district's biopharma industry is now "a core engine" for transformation in north Shanghai.

The area is building a "Global Pharma Valley by Meilan Lake" to attract global talent, capital, and partners, said Deng.

Baoshan currently hosts more than 430 biotech companies, including 70 large-scale firms. Its development system focuses on precision medicine, cell therapy, and synthetic biology.

Shanghai Science and Technology Commission official Xie Wenlan said the biopharmaceutical industry is one of the city's three top priorities. He credited Baoshan's efforts with helping Shanghai build a northern industrial belt based on innovation.

During the conference, Baoshan signed seventeen major projects worth over 2 billion yuan (US$280 million). They include R&D centers, production bases, and cross-border trading platforms for advanced medical products.

To support investors, Baoshan's one-stop service center now helps biotech firms from project approval to full operation. The district also launched a "hospital-enterprise matching" program to help new drugs and devices enter clinical use faster.

The "headquarters in the south, manufacturing in the north" model is being used to develop north Shanghai industrial parks like the North Shanghai Biopharmaceutical Park and the Nanda Synthetic Biology Park.

The district government asserts that the layout fosters innovation and facilitates mass production.