French media: China is becoming the new global hub for future drugs
The newspaper "Echo" published a feature article revealing the trend of the rise of China's biopharmaceutical industry; "Le Figaro" disclosed that China's sports equipment giant Anta faces the challenge of reviving Puma.
"I could never have done the same thing in the US": China is becoming the new global hub for future drugs.
The newspaper "Echo" dispatched a reporter from Suzhou to publish an in-depth feature, using the Chinese biopharmaceutical industry as a starting point, combining personal interviews, industry data, policy background, and international comparisons to systematically analyze the trend of the rise of China's biopharmaceutical industry, especially innovative drugs and biotechnology.
The article focuses on how China has rapidly become an important global research center for "future drugs," with the Suzhou biopharmaceutical cluster as a core case study, revealing the structural reasons and practical challenges behind it.
The report first shows the phenomenon of "reverse brain drain" in China's biotechnology field through the personal experiences of several Chinese scientists who were trained in the United States and later returned to start businesses in China (such as John Yu, founder of Cgenetech, and Qian Xueming, founder of Transcenta), showing that more and more scientific talents who once worked in the U.S. are returning to China to establish innovative biopharmaceutical enterprises.
The article points out that the Suzhou BioBAY park is a typical example of China's industrial policy. The local government has built a complete industrial chain from R&D, clinical trials to production through systematic support such as land, funding, infrastructure, clinical resources, and housing for talents, significantly reducing the cost and cycle of R&D for innovative drugs, making "developing drugs in China" faster, cheaper, and more feasible than in the U.S.
The article takes "Cgenetech Biomedical Technology" as an example, revealing that this pharmaceutical company, after 15 years of effort, has just launched two first-in-market drugs in the Chinese market: one is an anti-diabetic drug, targeting about 140 million Chinese diabetic patients, with performance comparable to Merck's similar products; the other is used to treat multiple sclerosis. At the same time, Cgenetech has also entered the field of oncology - a key sector for Chinese biotechnology companies, with four cancer drugs currently in Phase I clinical trials.
On a macro level, the report reviews how China has placed biotechnology as a national strategic priority since 2007, fostering thousands of domestic biotechnology companies through five-year plans, capital guidance, and local competition, promoting China's transition from a generic drug power to an innovation drug R&D power, particularly notable in the field of oncology.
The article does not shy away from issues: in the early stages, the industry had regulatory chaos, corruption, and quality disorder, but with enhanced intellectual property protection and anti-corruption campaigns, the industry environment has significantly improved, and the position of Chinese biotechnology companies in global patents, overseas licensing, and international cooperation has rapidly risen.
Finally, the report analyzes the current constraints, including tight medical insurance funds, tightened financing environment, forced industry consolidation, and the impact of Sino-U.S. geopolitical tensions on multinational pharmaceutical companies' strategies. Despite this, with its vast domestic market, massive medical data, and cost advantages, China is still considered one of the important sources of global pharmaceutical innovation in the coming decades.
Source: rfi
Original: toutiao.com/article/1855571489758284/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.