Zhangjiang grows into role as biomedical tech hub

The total licensing revenue of biomedical companies in Shanghai's Zhangjiang, a high-tech industrial park in China, to allow their copyrighted R&D to be used by overseas companies reached 46.1 billion yuan ($7.14 billion) in 2020, according to a report released on Tuesday.

The Zhangjiang Biomedicine Innovation Index, compiled by Zhangjiang Group and institutes including the Shanghai Institute for Science of Science, showed the innovation power of Zhangjiang in the biomedical industry based on five criteria: the region's role in facilitating innovation, driving growth, integrating resources, influencing other domestic regions and the international market.

"The data indicated Zhangjiang has transformed from a region integrating resources worldwide to a hub providing resources in the dual-circulation development paradigm, and its research value in biomedical industry has been recognized globally," institute director Shi Qian said at the opening ceremony of the four-day Zhangjiang Life Science International Innovation Summit.

"National innovative platforms and institutions have been gathered in Zhangjiang, which forms a sound ecosystem for companies to thrive and serves industry growth," he added.

Moreover, the report showed 75 kinds of new Class-1 drugs developed in Zhangjiang last year -an almost threefold increase from the number in 2016- were approved for clinical trials, accounting for 20 percent of the country's total.

Over the past three decades, Zhangjiang has brought together over 1,400 biomedical innovation companies. Some 10 innovation centers of global firms have built or planned to launch their innovation hubs in Zhangjiang, such as an in-house accelerator to empower local healthcare innovation by Swiss healthcare company Roche.

The opening ceremony also saw the launch of 24 related projects with a total investment of 31.2 billion yuan in Zhangjiang, focusing on biomedical services and products.

"We value the solid foundation of an industrial chain, high-end talent pool and favorable policies for high-end manufacturing and AI companies in Zhangjiang," said Zhong Min, director of government affairs and market access of Intuitive Fosun dedicated to robotic-assisted medical devices development.

The company will construct a high-end manufacturing and R&D base in Zhangjiang, focusing on the localization of supply chains and manufacturing.

An AI pharmaceutical R&D alliance was launched at the ceremony as well, with a founding group of around 20 member companies. The alliance will work on facilitating data sharing among biotech and pharmaceutical firms.