The current situation and prospects of the development of China's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry.

Everyone faces career choices.
stay in your comfort zone and do a familiar job? Or look at the trend of the times and take on new challenges bravely? Timing is the key to success or failure.
The toughest times for China's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are over, and the best is yet to come.
just over a decade ago, when the first scientists set foot on Chinese soil, they were keenly aware that the pharmaceutical industry had not kept up with the pace of the fast-growing economy.
in The Chinese pharmaceutical industry at the time, generics dominated.
this certainly reflects the fact of backwardness, but why not the opportunity for innovation? With the strong help of the government, these elites, with the strong help of the government, have sunk their hearts in the booming economy and built up the backbone of China's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, giving us the ability to discover and develop new drugs.
Today, biotechnology experts coming to China will clearly see that the country's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry is at an inflection point before take-off - the university system has led to excellent basic research, with a large number of PhDs, the public or private sector is continuing to provide economic support, regulatory policies are actively reforming, aligning with the global level, and the business elite is dynamic, globaland and ambitious.
they also know that China has a huge unmet medical need.
As the population ages, we urgently need more innovative pharmaceutical products in the areas of cancer, neurology, and diabetes.
compared with the huge demand, the chinese people are not able to use the good drugs available to the new drugs is quite inadequate - in the past five years, the world has approved a total of 42 new anti-cancer drugs, only four successfully entered China.
fortunately, this serious lag problem is expected to be quickly alleviated in the short term.
on the one hand, a series of new reforms from governments and regulators will allow more new drugs from overseas to enter China faster, and on the other hand, local biotech newcomers are accelerating the development of new chinese "smart" new drugs for the benefit of patients in China and around the world.
As Dr. Huang Qi, CEO of Wanchun Pharmaceuticals, said, both in academia and industry, this is the best time to build on past investments in biotechnology to further achieve results.
mr. Greg Scott, who visited the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park only twice, decided to open a life sciences consulting firm in the fertile ground of new drug research.
2007, he founded ChinaBio and continues to encourage people around him to travel to China.
"Go and try it!" It was a great experience! Mr. Scott said, "If I design a career path for someone else, there's going to be a Chinese part in it."
this is the world's largest pharmaceutical market outside the United States.
"China's pharmaceutical industry is not just attractive to entrepreneurs and multinational pharmaceutical companies.
in fact, China's environment has also attracted many scientists to take the next step in their careers. Professor Raymond Stevens, a well-known structured scientist
, is one such example.
in academia, Professor Stevens analyzed the crystal structure of many human receptor proteins to help identify potential new drug targets.
2009, after a lecture on membrane protein, the academic enthusiasm of Chinese students led him to decide to leave California for Shanghai.
", "One of the most attractive things about China is the enthusiasm of students for science.
," says Professor Stevens.
after his speech, a group of students gathered around the podium and asked him one scientific question after another.
"They were hungry for science," professor Stevens added. shortly after
, Professor Stevens came to China as a visiting scholar, and now he is the executive director of the iHuman Institute at Shanghai University of Science and Technology and a member of China's "Thousand People Project".
2017, he was awarded the Magnolia Memorial Award for his outstanding contribution to the development of Shanghai. It is no accident that
the scientific passion that Professor Stevens has experienced.
, as the government continues to support biotechnology for more than a decade, more and more scientists and entrepreneurs are attracting China.
estimate s2m of overseas veterans have returned to China in the past six years, with 250,000 coming from the life sciences sector, including elites such as Mr Scott and Professor Stevens, who were not born in China.
's drive for innovation cannot be separated from the strong support of the government.
it is worth mentioning that the three most recent Five-Year Plan outlines emphasize the importance of biotechnology.
the outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan, by 2020, China's biotechnology industry will account for more than 4% of GDP, to build 10-20 production value of more than 10 billion yuan of biomedical professional parks.
the 1,000-person programme has been a huge success in attracting overseas scholars.
Since 2008, the 1,000-person program has recruited more than 7,000 elites in various fields, including more than 1,400 in the life sciences and biotechnology sectors, including the company's founders, chief scientists, or leading academics.
these elites, along with many of the sea-returning, have had a significant impact on the industry.
whether it is approved new drugs, or new medicine, or first-class research, there are their shadow behind.
capital since the global financial crisis, western countries have been affected by biotechnology investment.
in China, investment in biotechnology is booming.
, given the aging trend of Chinese and the huge demand for healthcare, Chinese investors are looking to expand their investment pipelines to cover more areas.
in the two-and-a-half years from 2015 to mid-2017, China's VCs and private equity firms raised $45 billion, of which only $12 billion has been invested, according to ChinaBio.
can imagine that investors are looking for more investment opportunities.
, in addition, Baiji Shenzhou, Reding Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceutical sin-ming biology and other Chinese companies, also in recent years successfully listed.
these flows to innovative biotech companies will expand the biotech talent pool to create a positive positive cycle.
but the money is not a patent for a biotech company.
in academia, funding for life science research is also growing.
"It's relatively easy to get science funding," says Dr. Wang Xiaodong, director of the Beijing Institute of Life Sciences and co-founder of Baiji Shenzhou. Professor
" Professor Stevens points out that while China is no more likely to apply for funding than the US, China's desire to fund "high-risk" research projects is stronger than the US's "low-risk" approach.
praised the decisions as real long-term investments rather than focusing on the short-term generation of large amounts of data to secure the next round of funding.
, Chinese scholars are paying more and more attention to the "combination of production and learning".
new research from the lab that can be used to start a new company.
this helps more innovative discoveries move from the lab to the application, to the patient.
talents in the policy and financial support, China's biotechnology industry has attracted more and more talents to join.
"We're constantly looking for new employees," says Dr. Jude Chao, chairman and president of Cinda Bio.
" Cinda Bio is a representative of China's biotechnology industry.
these companies are constantly looking for senior people with overseas experience, and their experience in innovative drug development will be a valuable asset.
"One-tenth of our team is home to the sea."
have first-hand experience in the development and regulation of new drugs.
," Dr. Yu added.
with the CFDA becoming a member of the International Council for the Coordination of Human Drug Registration Technology (ICH), the future demand for such overseas talent will only increase.
said the decision to join China's biotechnology industry is an important factor - social responsibility and influence.
"In large overseas institutions, it is difficult for a person to make a significant impact or decide what happens."
in China, you can really make an impact on the industry and society," says Dr. Yu Xuefeng, founder, chairman and president of Consino.
's the right time.
", Dr. Yu left Sanofi's management and returned to China to start a business.
now a Vaccine for Ebola virus in Consino has been approved by the CFDA.
opportunities for overseas scientists, whose biggest concern is whether China is really right for them.
to answer this question, many have summed up some productive career paths.
for example, these scientists could come to China as expatriates from multinational pharmaceutical companies, or join a company with a position overseas first.
work experience over the next few years will help to better understand China.
experience is essential to meet employees with regulators or require clinical trials.
"I'm constantly learning new things when I'm managing Chinese," Mr. Scott said.
many of China's biotech stars, selected by Nature magazine, have had similar experiences.
they are particularly valuable to the development of the company.
we are also pleased to see the names of Dr. Yang Qing, Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, and many other partners of the Pharmaceutical Mingkang Group.
last year, Bloomberg Businessweek noted that these elites have played an important role in boosting the industry.
"One of my advice to those who have just returned home is not to think we know China well because we're Chinese," said Dr. Zhang Dan, an expert on the Thousand People Program. Mr. Mark Engel, chief executive of Phagelux, a partner of the
, said a similar view.
he believes that technology is important, but it is also important to take the initiative to understand China's cultural environment.
in academia, China also welcomes talent from overseas. Dr. Mingwei Wang, dean of Fudan University's School of Pharmacy,
, expects to increase the proportion of overseas faculty from 3% to 15%. Professor
Stevens also expects to increase the proportion of his team to 25 per cent.
As Nature says, good science has no borders.
we look forward to the policy, capital, talent of the organic combination, so that China's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry as soon as possible bear fruit, the benefit of patients around the world!