China's biopharmaceutical industry has accelerated to become a "new driving force" for steady growth

  In the modern biopharmaceutical production workshop of Qilu Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. located in Jinan, Shandong Province, China's first bevacizumab biological analog, Anda, is in full production. This drug, which is mainly used to treat advanced, metastatic or recurrent non-small cell lung cancer and metastatic colorectal cancer, broke the exclusive monopoly of foreign pharmaceutical giants on similar drugs in China for many years after its listing at the end of last year, greatly enhancing the accessibility and affordability of clinical drugs.
As one of the leading enterprises in China's pharmaceutical industry, Qilu Pharmaceutical achieved sales revenue of 23 billion yuan and export of 615 million dollars in 2019; In the first 11 months of 2020, its product exports increased by 14% year on year. At present, Qilu pharmaceutical products have been exported to more than 70 countries and regions in the world.
Biomedical industry is one of the most active and far-reaching strategic emerging industries in the 21st century. Although China started late in this field, it has developed rapidly. Especially in the context of the COVID-19 raging around the world, the complete industrial chain and strong supply capacity of China's bio pharmaceutical industry have not only made important contributions to the global fight against the epidemic, but also become a "new driving force" for stable growth in the accelerated rise.
At the beginning of the epidemic, masks were once "hard to find" in the market as a necessary epidemic prevention product. Jinan took one month to open up the whole industrial chain of mask production, and the daily output was more than 400 times larger than 60,000, providing a strong material guarantee for winning the war of epidemic prevention and control.
One of the "magic weapons" to effectively reduce the risk of epidemic spread is to properly control "detection". At the beginning of February 2020, the Jinan Yinfeng Medical Laboratory (Yinfeng Gene Technology Co., Ltd.) under Yinfeng Bioengineering Group Co., Ltd. quickly became the first third party institution for COVID-19 nucleic acid detection in Jinan. Its self-developed COVID-19 kit has passed the EU CE certification; The first passenger car type 5G mobile nucleic acid testing laboratory independently developed in Shandong Province can test 20000 samples per day.
Under the impact of the epidemic, a large number of enterprises worked overtime to switch production to increase production of masks, protective clothing, ventilators and other anti epidemic materials, which were continuously delivered to the anti epidemic frontline at home and abroad. As a national high-tech enterprise, Shandong Boke Biological Industry Co., Ltd. has urgently produced and delivered more than 5000 sets of biosafety equipment, air disinfectors, sterilizers and other products in just a few months.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, China has actively provided the world with epidemic prevention materials, with more than 200 billion masks alone, and 30 masks per capita worldwide. According to the data released by the General Administration of Customs, China's export of epidemic prevention materials maintained a rapid growth in the first three quarters of 2020. Among them, the export of textiles including masks was 828.78 billion yuan, up 37.5%. In addition, the export of medical materials and drugs, medical instruments and instruments increased by 21.8% and 48.2% respectively.
The export of high-end pharmaceutical products to European and American countries reflects the comprehensive strength of China's biomedical enterprises. Li Yan, president of Qilu Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., introduced that at present, 15 personal pharmaceutical preparations of Qilu Pharmaceutical are exported to the United States, and the market share of cefepime for injection, ondansetron hydrochloride injection and new Solinas in the United States is the first; It is the first time in China to export commercially packaged injections to Japan; 9 products were exported to the European market.
Hyaluronic acid (commonly known as "hyaluronic acid") is widely used in the fields of medicine and medical devices, cosmetics and health food, including orthopedics, ophthalmology, general surgery, plastic surgery, etc. Zhao Yan, chairman of Huaxi Biotechnology Co., Ltd., said that relying on independent innovation, Huaxi Biotechnology took the lead in realizing the breakthrough of hyaluronic acid microbial fermentation technology industrialization in China, changing the backward situation of China's production of hyaluronic acid by animal tissue extraction and relying mainly on imports. It has reached the forefront of the world in the field of hyaluronic acid, with sales covering more than 40 countries and regions.
"Innovative drugs are an important indicator to measure the innovation ability and strength of enterprises, and an important starting point to promote Chinese pharmaceutical enterprises to win international competition, from" following "to" running together ", and to" lead "in the future." Said Zhu Yidong, executive vice president of Qilu Institute of Innovative Drugs.
Qilu Pharmaceutical has successfully developed a special drug for non-small cell lung cancer, gefitinib tablets (Ireko), which lasted for seven years. In more than three years since its launch, Qilu Pharmaceutical has reduced the price of similar imported drugs from more than 5000 yuan per box to more than 500 yuan; For nearly 10 years, bevacizumab biological analogues have been successfully developed, which has also led to a sharp drop in drug prices.
Represented by Qilu Pharmaceutical and Huaxi Bio, Shandong is now emerging as a group of leading enterprises in the biomedical field. At present, Shandong has 21 national pharmaceutical innovation platforms, 5 drug safety evaluation research centers, 61 clinical drug testing institutions, and the pharmaceutical industry accounts for one seventh of the country's total.
At the same time, many regions in China have also formed bio pharmaceutical industrial clusters. In 2019, the overall scale of Beijing's pharmaceutical and health industry exceeded 200 billion yuan, maintaining double-digit growth for four consecutive years; At present, Jiangsu Suzhou has gathered nearly 3000 biopharmaceutical enterprises, with nearly 50,000 relevant employees. In the first three quarters of 2020, the biopharmaceutical industry achieved a revenue of about 170 billion yuan, an increase of about 24% year on year. It is estimated that the annual revenue can exceed 200 billion yuan.
"Accelerate the research and development of innovative drugs, and continuously inject new momentum into the high-quality development of China's biomedical industry." Bao Haizhong, vice president of Qilu Pharmaceutical Group, said. Qilu Pharmaceutical closely follows the development trend of international innovative drugs. At present, there are more than 50 innovative drug projects under research, more than 10 of which have been approved for clinical trials. In 2020, 11 of them will apply for IND (clinical trials of new drugs) in China and the United States.
The China Life Science and Biotechnology Development Report 2020 released in November 2020 pointed out that since 2010, the number of patent applications in China has remained the second in the world, and the number of patent authorizations in 2019 will be the first in the world. Biotechnology and new drug R&D are still the two major areas of capital concern. China is the second largest investment and financing intensive region in the world, second only to the United States.
According to Tan Yong, Vice President of China Pharmaceutical Enterprise Management Association, China's contribution to global pharmaceutical innovation has grown rapidly in recent years. A number of biopharmaceutical enterprises have continued to make efforts on the basis of basic research and actively expand the international market, which will accelerate China's pace towards the first echelon of global pharmaceutical innovation.