Stimulus Program for Biopharmaceutical Industry Will Soon Be Unveiled    

According to China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicines & Health Products, the drafted stimulus program for the biopharmaceutical industry has been submitted to China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and may be officially promulgated at the end of August 2010.
   Led by NDRC, Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Ministry of Health (MOH) and the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) have jointly participated in the drafting of this program. After several demonstrations and amendments, this program has been finalized.
   Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces and Shanghai and Beijing cities have already taken stimulus measures to promote the development of their local biopharmaceutical industries. Among them, Sichuan province has listed the biopharmaceutical industry as one of its key emerging industries during its twelfth five-year program period (2011 - 2015). Jiangsu province hopes that its biopharmaceutical sales revenue will exceed RMB500 billion in 2012. Now, the annual production value of its biopharmaceutical industry was about RMB200 billion, 11.5% of China's total. In the next three years, Beijing will strive to increase the production value of its biopharmaceutical industry from less than RMB40 billion in 2009 now to RMB100 billion in 2012. By the end of 2012, Shanghai plans to make the production value of its biopharmaceutical industry reach RMB200 billion.
   According to its twelfth five-year program, China's biopharmaceutical industry will focus on the development of gene drugs, protein drugs, monoclonal antibody drugs, therapeutic vaccines and small molecule chemical drugs.
   While the twelfth five-year program of China's biopharmaceutical industry is being made, the Major New Drug Innovation Program is also being made by MOST and MOH together.   New drugs can be divided into three categories: chemical drugs, traditional Chinese drugs and bio-drugs. According to their categories, China will offer different funds to the research and development of every major new drug, ranging from RMB5 million to RMB11 million.