Global pharma companies still see a big future in Shanghai
Editor's note:
Shanghai, a well-established destination for investment from home and abroad, is confident to ride the waves of a rising city to attract more quality investment with better policies and services.
Pharma companies, testing and equipment providers remain committed to Shanghai as an attractive investment destination and continue to forge closer ties with local players.
Shanghai aspires to be an innovation hub and encourages open innovation schemes between multinationals and local companies so that cutting-edge technologies coming out of its labs will be used to boost business and improve people's lives.
By 2025, total R&D spending will make up 4.5 percent of the city's gross domestic product, according to the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025).
The biopharma industry is estimated to be worth more than 1 trillion yuan (US$14.8 billion) with six city-level industrial parks of more than 10 billion yuan.
The city has also drawn up a blueprint to stimulate the innovation vitality of all kinds of businesses, including domestic private enterprises and foreign companies.
The Roche Accelerator business innovation hub in Zhangjiang in the Pudong New Area is expected to become operational at the end of this year.
With an investment of nearly 300 million yuan, it seeks to work with outstanding local biotech and pharma companies to help drive health-care innovation in China through R&D partnerships.
Nine local startups have been selected out of more than 200 applicants to be included into the incubator to accelerate their innovative services and offerings.
Roche also announced it has joined hands with the Shanghai medical Innovation and Development Foundation and unveiled a personalized health-care incubation program, the Precision Medical Research and Industrial Innovation Development Fund, to further accelerate local collaboration.
Initially, it plans to foster innovative R&D projects in the the personalized health-care sector with a focus on oncology, covering neurology.
"Roche will keep exploring opportunities to collaborate with the oncology innovation ecosystem in China to make sure that research in China will also benefit the world," said Vivian Bian, CEO of Roche Pharma China.
Takeda China is the latest multinational drug company to locate its drug development center in Shanghai.
Takeda China has chosen Shanghai for its Asian drug development center, representing a further upgrade of its China R&D strategy.
The Japan-based company hopes to better integrate with the biopharma industry cluster in the Zhangjiang area of Pudong and to further elevate the industry's development in the city through faster and better innovation.
Head of the Takeda Development Center Asia, Wang Lin, expects one of its core functions will be to explore innovation through linking with partners from different areas to promote drug innovation.
The company expects China to be its second-largest market by 2030.
French pharma Sanofi has also showcased its latest effort to foster local innovation through collaboration with a local digital health-care service and Internet hospital provider ClouDr to deepen its exploration in chronic diseases management, following an earlier agreement with JD Health.
The partnership will leverage both parties' knowledge and expertise starting with diabetes, which has a large patient base in China, and will gradually expand to other areas.
"The cooperation with ClouDr demonstrates our commitment to improving the health of the Chinese people within the digital health care ecosystem," said Pius Hornstein, country lead of Sanofi China.
"We will spare no effort in portfolio innovation and advancing the digital transformation of the local health care sector."
US conglomerate Fortive has set up a demonstration and exhibition space at its China headquarters in Changning District to showcase a wide range of testing procedures, measurement equipment and intelligent solutions.
Makers of testing and measurement facilities and life science instruments are also responding to changing demands with more research.
A new exhibition space was unveiled earlier this month as part of Fortive's China headquarters in Changning District to showcase a wide range of testing and measurement equipment as well as intelligent solutions for workplace safety, sustainability and reliability.
"Setting up the e-Lab exhibition and demonstration space in our Shanghai headquarters is a latest investment in the city to respond to local clients' demand for smarter, safer and greener solutions," said Fortive Asia President Jasper Ang.
The exhibition and demonstration area includes Fluke's Fixed Acoustic Imager that uses sound-mapping technology to provide insights into product quality or safety concerns, and help quickly detect changes across compressors, pumps, pipes and other facilities.
It also enables capturing data from inaccessible or dangerous areas to keep safe.
US-based Tektronix's latest Mixed Signal Oscilloscope offers mobile measurement in a compact, portable form.
Another testing and lab facility provider, Thermo Fisher, recently unveiled new sets of locally produced single-use bioreactors for which it sees booming demand in the local market in areas like antibody and vaccine research and cell and gene treatment.
Its latest locally made product lines also include high-performance liquid chromatography and biosafety cabinets to meet rising demand for lab research and testing, thanks to continuous investment in its local research innovation center in Shanghai and Suzhou.
