Shanghai unveils plans for biological medicine industry

A bird's-eye view of an industrial park in Putuo district in Shanghai which is operated by Zhangjiang National Innovation Demonstration Zone. [Photo/China Daily]

Shanghai plans to build high-end manufacturing parks for biological medicine by 2020 to complement and develop interactively with Pudong New Area's Zhangjiang, known as China's pharma valley, according to a three-year action plan.

The parks are planned so far in the municipality's districts of Jinshan and Fengxian, as well as Lingang area in Pudong based on the existing industrial parks. They will focus on medical devices, beauty and biopharmaceuticals respectively, said Cao Hongming, director of the biological medicine division of Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, at a media briefing when the commission released the Action Plan to Promote the High Quality Development of the Biological Medicine Industry in Shanghai (2018-20) on Wednesday.

Enterprises in the industry are highly concentrated in Zhangjiang, where some companies found it hard to acquire land several years ago and now find it even harder to obtain a small space for an office, Cao said.

"Actually we've suffered the outflow of some projects with good prospects owing to the limited land," he said.

The action plan has come up with measures on land expansion together with the quality and capacity upgrade of Zhangjiang as Shanghai aims for the continued development of biological medicine, one of the city's strategic emerging industries, and building itself into a key area for biological medicine.

Shanghai's total economic output of biomedical medicine reached more than 304 billion yuan ($44 billion) last year, a year-on-year increase of more than 5.8 percent, statistics from the commission showed.

Jinshan, Fengxian and Lingang were selected for the industrial base and they will be coordinated at the city level to cooperate with Zhangjiang and maintain high-end and green development, Cao said.

Liu Xinyu, director of the science and technology commission of Jinshan district, said that there are so far 40 enterprises engaged in biological medicine in the district, 14 of which have an annual production value of more than 100 million yuan.

"In the future, some projects may carry out research and development in Zhangjiang," Liu said.

Wang Guowei, deputy director of the science and technology commission of Fengxian district, said that an industrial park covering an area of 1.8 square kilometers and specializing in biological medicine plus cosmetics was established in the district in 2015, and clusters of enterprises have been formed in skincare products, cosmetics, perfumes, health products and biomedicine.

"One in four facial masks made in China is currently produced in Fengxian," Wang said.

"I believe the 'Fengxian beauty valley' will see an obvious boost when it will become an extension of the Zhangjiang pharma valley," he said.

The action plan said that Shanghai's goal was that the industry would reach 400 billion yuan in 2020, and applications for 50 drugs and 100 medical devices developed in the city will be made before being marketed by that year.

It also said that the city aims to become a biomedical innovation source with industry clusters with international influence by 2025.