Boost for biopharma industry
SHANGHAI’S strategic blueprint to further elevate the biopharmaceutical industry is being significantly enhanced with new incentives to facilitate innovation and industry exchanges.
Vice Mayor Liu Duo pointed out that introducing latest overseas investment and industry-leading capabilities and encouraging local companies to step up overseas expansion are two major tasks to accelerate the industry’s development.
Last year, the total biopharma industry size in Shanghai reached 933.7 billion yuan (US$130 billion) and total industrial output value also climbed steadily to 186 billion yuan.
Speaking at the Shanghai Biopharmaceutical Industry International Development Conference on Monday, Liu said the city aims to become an innovation engine and welcomes leading overseas and local players to set up business and enhance industry exchanges through a wide range of initiatives.
By 2025, the city’s target is for the biopharmaceutical industry scale to reach 1 trillion yuan and have over 25 innovative products each with annual sales of over 1 billion yuan.
Shanghai is pursuing an integrated approach and has formulated a roadmap and systematic incentive policies to establish an industry cluster for both multinationals and local players, said Luo Dajin, director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission.
For innovative medicines and medical devices that gain registration from overseas regulatory authorities, a subsidy covering 30 percent of their R&D expenditure no higher than 10 million yuan will be granted.
Guo Shuting, deputy director general of the Shanghai Medical Products Administration, said the latest measures for trade facilitation and a white list for R&D materials and medicines will be further upgraded to boost the overall environment for innovation firms to unleash their potential.