The 14th Five-Year Plan for Guangzhou's Strategic Emerging Industries suggests that the biopharmaceutical and health industry, as one of the city’s three pillar emerging industries, has achieved an added value of 131.8 billion yuan in 2020, and plans to achieve the goal of 210 billion yuan ($30.0 trillion) by 2025.

When it comes to industry scale, enterprise quantity, and innovation platform, Guangzhou ranks at the forefront of the country in the biopharmaceutical industry and health industry, and its development level ranks among the first echelon of the country. In recent years, the average annual growth rate of the biopharmaceutical industry in Guangzhou is about 10 percent. According to incomplete statistics, from 2019 to 2021, the number of biopharmaceutical companies in Guangzhou has increased from over 3,800 to more than 6,400, ranking the third in China.

Behind the high growth rate is the gradual improvement of the complete industrial chain that covers upstream research and development experiments, midstream pilot production, and downstream marketing. Guangzhou is vigorously promoting the integration of “medicine, pharmaceuticals, and medical care” to enhance the coordinated innovation level and comprehensive competitiveness of the entire industry chain of “research and development---clinical---pilot trail-manufacturing”, and strengthening the industrial cluster of biopharmaceutical industry, modern traditional Chinese medicine, innovative chemical medicine, high-end medical equipment, and high-end health care, and other industries.

The biopharmaceutical industry in Guangzhou has formed an industrial chain development pattern of “three-center radiation and multi-region”, with research and development located in the Biological Island, pilot test in the Science City, and manufacturing in the Knowledge city. In addition, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Yuexiu) Life and Health Industry Innovation Zone, Liwan Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Medicine and Health Comprehensive Experimental Zone, “Baiyun Beauty Bay” Beauty and Health Industrial Park are growing in full blossom. The biotechnology industry in Nansha Biopharmaceutical Valley and Health Valley has also entered the fast lane of agglomeration and development, jointly promoting the formation of a spatial pattern of biopharmaceuticals and health industries in Guangzhou with an overall layout, different priorities, mutual collaboration, and distinctive features.

Guangdong is one of the largest domestic demand markets for the pharmaceutical industry in China. According to the “Report on the Analysis of the Operational Statistics of the Pharmaceutical Circulation Industry in 2020” released by the Ministry of Commerce in July 2021, Guangdong’s pharmaceutical sales and medical equipment sales both ranked first in China in 2020, providing a natural foundation for the development of biological industry in Guangzhou.