Guangdong will strive to achieve a bio-pharmaceutical and health industry cluster exceeding RMB 1 trillion in scale by 2027, with an above-scale pharmaceutical industry exceeding RMB 500 billion, according to an action plan released by the provincial government on October 9.
Wang Xi, Vice Governor of Guangdong Province, introduced at a press conference that Guangdong will leverage the location advantages of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) and the frontier advantages of institutional innovation to achieve the high-quality development of the bio-pharmaceutical and health industry.
The province will fully utilize the Hong Kong and Macao Medicine and Equipment Connect policy to accelerate the expansion of designated medical institutions and product scope, supporting the nine mainland cities in the GBA to connect with Hong Kong and Macao’s bio-pharmaceutical industries.
(Photo: Cao Yaqin)
Accelerate the construction of innovation platforms and infrastructure
In terms of accelerating the construction of innovation platforms and infrastructure, the action plan emphasizes the continuous advancement of major science and technology infrastructure and actively strives for the proteomic navigator of the human body program to be located in Guangzhou.
To support the construction of high-level clinical research platforms, Guangdong will rely on national laboratories and high-level hospitals, with national medical centers, national clinical research centers, and national regional medical centers as the core. By 2027, Guangdong aims to establish 3 to 5 clinical research platforms with domestic innovation leadership.
The action plan proposes to establish mutual recognition of clinical research ethics review results, encouraging foreign-invested, joint-venture, private, and shareholding tertiary hospitals to participate.
The action plan also proposes that Guangdong will continue to increase support for technology-based micro and small enterprises. By 2027, Guangdong aims to cultivate and develop at least 15 enterprises with revenue exceeding RMB 10 billion or even RMB 100 billion.
Introduce global drugs, medical devices for industrialization in Guangdong
To promote the industrialization of innovative drugs and medical devices in Guangdong, the province will promptly follow up on the research and development dynamics of innovative drugs and medical devices in clinical stages at home and abroad, introducing drugs and medical devices with good application prospects for industrialization in Guangdong.
In terms of enhancing the technical service capabilities of innovative drugs and medical devices, Guangdong will establish an early intervention mechanism and special review procedures for key products, aiming to obtain registration permits for 1 to 2 innovative drugs and more than 5 innovative medical devices annually.
The review and approval process for medical device products will be comprehensively accelerated. Efforts will also be made to optimize the registration process for imported products already on the market.
By fully utilizing the Hong Kong and Macao Medicine and Equipment Connect policy, the review period for externally used traditional Chinese medicines already on the market in Hong Kong and Macao will be shortened from 200 working days to 80 working days, with the post-marketing change approval and re-registration periods reduced by 50 working days, respectively.
Guangdong will also improve the import filing mechanism for drugs and items used in biomedical research and development. The province will support the establishment of a whitelist system for the import of items used in biomedical research and development in biomedical industry clusters such as Guangzhou’s Huangpu District and Nansha Free Trade Zone, allowing items included in the whitelist to be imported without requiring an import drug customs permit.
Reporter | Abby
Editor | Nan, James