To establish a trillion dollar-scale health sciences sector, Hangzhou is revamping and upgrading policies to aid Biomedical sciences again!

The General Office of the Hangzhou Municipal People’s Government has recently issued the "Several Opinions on Accelerating the High-Quality Development of the Biomedical Industry" (Several Opinions) document. 28 quintessential leading policy measures have been implemented to assist Hangzhou in reinvigorating the establishment of a leading health sciences innovation ecosystem and using it to propel towards a trillion dollar-scale health sciences sector.

Vision 2030; Striving to attain the trillion dollar-scale for the city’s health sciences sector

摄影/孙明闽

The "Several Opinions" document has established a comprehensive coverage of seven aspects: "defining target areas, improving innovative R&D capabilities, improving clinical research and application, promoting industrial cluster development, improving elemental support levels, improving ecosystem service systems, and strengthening overall planning and promotion mechanisms". The policy support system of the value chain not only includes stipulations that target innovative R&D and clinical research applications, but they also encourage making "real-time" decisions that comprehensively enable industrial agglomeration, and ecosystem establishment.

The purpose of the policies revamp and upgrade is to build on the foundation of Hangzhou's heath sciences industry, focus on ecosystem establishment for the entire sector, improve the sector’s value chain policy support system for R&D, clinical trials, manufacturing and support services, thus further improving the "one core and four parks" concept. The “multi-touchpoint” health sciences industry strategy, termed and implemented as the “156 Action” plan, will drive the sector towards achieving a doubling of the city’s annual industrial output value in three years’ time. If the momentum can be maintained, the odds of the sector attaining a trillion dollar-scale by 2030 look to be promising.

Improving innovation and R&D capabilities

The revamp will also bring about increased support for biomedical innovation research and development. For example, for registration applicants who have already carried out phase I, II, or III clinical trials in China, the registered applicant who agrees to soft-land in Hangzhou will obtain permission for production of category 1 chemical drugs, category 1 biological products, and category 1 traditional Chinese medicines in this city. Post review and granting of permission, the applicant can enjoy up to 40% of the research and development investment, with the maximum of a single product being 6 million yuan, 12 million yuan, and 30 million yuan (including local clinical trial fee reduction).

Improving clinical research applications

The revamp also encourages the translation of clinical research results and the enhancement of medical-enterprise integration and innovation capabilities. For example, it looks to assist in establishing a medical-enterprise collaboration mechanism, and encourage medical institutions, companies, and academic R&D institutions to collaboratively carry out clinical application research. It also supports medical institutions in building clinical research hospitals and establish joint technology translational platforms.

Promote sector development through industrial agglomeration

The revamp also guides and supports the improvement of the ecosystem value chain, in commercializing innovative projects, and the expansion and strengthening of companies. For example, for major pharmaceutical industry projects with a fixed asset investment of more than 200 million yuan within the effective period of the policy, financial support shall be provided at a maximum of 20% of the total actual fixed asset investment; districts, counties (cities) are encouraged to contribute to the corresponding rewards to pharmaceutical companies with a local industrial output value of more than 100 million yuan.

Enhance capital driven support

The revamp provides a full range of guarantees for industrial development, including office space, environmental protection, finance, and talent recruitment. For example, to maximise the guiding role which investment can play, the government industry funds will actively drive social and financial capital to invest in the health sciences sector. It will also encourage the "one core and four parks" concept platform to follow the market mechanism and establish a multi-level health sciences industry fund.

Improving ecosystem support services

The revamp also supports the establishment of an ecosystem support mechanism for the entire sector value chain. For example, it supports the establishment of public service platforms such as GCP, CRO, CMO, CDMO, registration inspection, MAH license trading, intellectual property trading, and smart medical care. The municipal government’s approved public service platform shall be granted a maximum of 18 million yuan in funding not exceeding 30% of its approved R&D equipment and software investment.

Strengthen the overall promotion mechanism

Finally, the revamp will help in coordinating the city's "game of chess" and jointly promote the high-quality development of the biomedical and health industries. For example, the implementation of the "156 Action" for the biomedicine and health industry will focus on five key areas including innovative drugs, medical devices, bio+digital technology, pharmaceutical logistics, and medical health care, and implement six key tasks to create a trillion-dollar-scale industrial cluster.                        

Official Source:

Hangzhou City Press Release