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Recently, the Municipal Party Committee’s Cyberspace Affairs Office organized a “Discover Nanjing” new media tour and an interview activity on the theme of the biopharmaceutical industry. More than 20 interview teams composed of key news network media and financial new media in the central and provincial and municipalities
have visited Nanjing Biopharmaceutical Valley, visited R&D laboratories, and communicated with corporate technical teams to conduct on-site research on new technologies, new thinking and new achievements in Nanjing’s biopharmaceutical industry.
China Jiangsu Network
Why did Nanjing’s biopharmaceutical industry break through to the 100 billion track? (Original link:https://finance.jschina.com.cn/202503/t20250306_s67c9487de4b05777c1786f14.shtml)
The Paper
How did Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, “take off at a high level” and open up a new pattern of the bio-pharmaceutical industry (original link: https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_30329967)
Niuka Video
Nanjing Biomedical Valley: Under the wave of innovation, the “breaking the cocoon” of the biomedical industry (original link: http://m2.nbs.cn/article/917805.html?id=917805&mid=1)
Benliu Finance and Economics
In Nanjing Treasure Medicine Valley, it turns out that masters are like clouds(Click on the jump link)
Maker Commune
○ The impact of genes on humans runs through the entire process of life. In the process of exploring genes, the help of gene detection instruments is indispensable. However, gene sequencers involve many scientific and technological technologies such as chips and information algorithms. They have high technical barriers, large scientific research investment and long R&D cycle. Currently, there are only a handful of companies that can achieve mass production on the world.
○ Since its establishment in 2012, Zhenmai Bio has been committed to the research and development of domestic gene sequencers. After several years of technical research, the “SURFSeq” sequencing technology system with independent intellectual property rights has achieved independent control over the entire platform of “instrument-reagent-chip-software”. It is one of the few sequencing system manufacturers in the world that have the core technologies and commercial delivery capabilities of gene sequencing.
○ “The relationship between a gene sequencer and a detection chip is similar to a printer and an ink cartridge. The chip, as a high-tech consumable, incorporates knowledge from various disciplines such as physics, chemistry and biology.” Zhou Zhiliang, general manager of Nanjing Zhenmai Biology, used printers and ink cartridges as metaphors to vividly introduce the principles and functions of a gene sequencer. “We started to deploy overseas markets three years ago, and the current overseas market revenue is the same as that of the domestic market. While the market is expanding, we are also constantly updating our products. The multi-gradient product array can fully meet the sequencing application needs of scientific research institutions, medical institutions and industrial users, and empower cutting-edge scientific research exploration and precision medicine.”
○ At the same time, in the Biomedical Valley of Jiangbei New District, Nanjing, another pharmaceutical company has also made its mark with innovative breakthroughs.
○ “Early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment” is currently recognized as the most effective anti-cancer strategy. The “Shihe Hawkeye” pan-cancer premature screening product independently developed by Shihe Gene requires only one tube of blood to screen 9 types of cancers, including lung cancer, liver cancer, gastric cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer, esophageal cancer, endometrial cancer, pancreatic cancer and other lesions and organs at one time, becoming only four FDA-breaking certifications in the world, and the technology has reached the world’s leading level.
○ In October 2023, the Shihe No. 1 NGS large Panel kit independently developed by Shihe Gene was approved and launched on the market through the innovative medical device of the State Food and Drug Administration, becoming the first and only tumor NGS large Panel (gene combination) kit in China.
○ From a local unicorn to a global technological breakthrough, Shihe Gene has been deeply engaged in tumor precision detection for more than 10 years, and has ranked first in the domestic tumor NGS detection market share with millions of samples and a high R&D investment ratio. As a local oncology medicine enterprise cultivated and grown in Nanjing Jiangbei New District, Shihe Gene has jointly built an industrial and academic research base with many universities and research institutes in Nanjing, and has attracted talents in biology, AI and other multidisciplinary fields. At the same time, it has also cooperated with Nanjing Medical University, Southeast University, etc. to jointly cultivate talents.
Innovation breakthrough, from local to global competition
○ In Nanjing, innovative drugs are accelerating their overseas trip.
○ At the end of last year, a Hong Kong patient used the innovative drug from the Jiangbei New District enterprise Reindeer Bio, CAR-T cell product Ichi Orentse Injection (FUCASO). When providing treatment for the first Hong Kong patient, Nanjing Customs and Jiangbei New District jointly established a regulatory mechanism to clear up the bottleneck of cross-border logistics and achieve the transportation of blood samples from Hong Kong patients to Nanjing within 48 hours and start preparation.
○ Different from traditional drugs and treatment methods, this therapy is the first treatment plan independently developed and produced in the entire process and tailor-made for patients. Specifically, malignant tumors of the hematologic system are treated by collecting T cells in the patient’s blood, modifying T cells in the laboratory, and then injecting the modified CAR-T cells back into the body.
○ Lin Menghan, secretary of the board of directors of Reindeer Biotech, introduced that since it was approved for marketing by the State Food and Drug Administration in June 2023, the innovative drug has benefited hundreds of patients. Nanjing produces and supplies overseas, Reindeer Bio cooperates with many institutions to promote the “going overseas” of cell therapy drugs and actively explore the drainage model of overseas patients. The exploration of this innovative model and its excellent clinical effects have attracted more than 20 overseas patients from Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia and other places to come to China for treatment.
○ “Instruments are getting smaller and smaller, and their functions are becoming more and more powerful.” In 2000, Nanwei Medical was established in Nanjing, mainly engaged in the research, development, production and sales of minimally invasive medical devices and consumables. As a pioneer in domestic substitution, the “Harmony Clip” launched in 2015 achieved 360-degree precise clamping with a chute-type structure, and the price was only 1/8 of the same imported products, ending the era of foreign brand monopoly, with an annual output value of several hundred million yuan. Since then, the innovative product “disposable cholangoscope” can penetrate deep into the bile duct, realize high-definition biliary imaging, and conduct super minimally invasive endoscopy diagnosis and treatment.
○ According to Li Changqing, executive president of Nanwei Medical, the company has currently served more than 6,000 hospitals across the country, covering more than 55% of Grade A hospitals, becoming a leading enterprise in the domestic minimally invasive medical device industry. Overseas markets are also the goal of Nanwei Medical. “Now, the company’s products and services can reach more than 90 countries and regions, and the company will continue to be guided by innovation in the future.”
From single point breakthrough to full-chain collaboration
Ecological clusters are rising steadily
○ Nanjing is located in the Yangtze River Delta, with developed transportation and strong radiation and driving effects. At the same time, universities are gathered, with rich scientific and educational and clinical resources. From the research and development of gene sequencers to the application of gene detection in medical treatment, from the overseas development of innovative drugs to the global development, Nanjing Biomedicine Valley has provided a complete upstream and downstream industrial chain for the biomedicine industry, allowing enterprises to efficiently share resources and technology and promote the research and development and production of innovative drugs.
○ At the same time, in line with the demand of “co-creation + incubation + acceleration + industrialization” in the biopharmaceutical industry, Nanjing Biopharmaceutical Valley provides a full-function carrier space, full life cycle services, and a full-factor innovation ecological environment. Nearly 1.9 million square meters of innovation and entrepreneurship carriers have been built.
○ Relying on Nanjing’s rich university resources, Nanjing Biomedicine Valley has attracted a large number of high-level talents. Up to now, the park has introduced a total of 52 national talent engineering program experts, 99 talents from Jiangsu Province’s “Double Innovation Plan” program, and 15 top science and technology experts in Nanjing City. In addition, the park also has 5 national postdoctoral workstations and 8 provincial postdoctoral innovation practice bases, providing strong support for the cultivation and retention of talents.
○ Through policy tools such as “fast channel for urgently needed devices in clinical practice” and “biopharmaceutical industry fund”, Nanjing helps to achieve seamless connection of “laboratory-operating room-production line” to create a “tropical rainforest effect” for industrial development.
○ In order to implement “precise drip irrigation” services for biopharmaceutical enterprises, Nanjing has established a 2 billion yuan biopharmaceutical industry fund. In the fields of innovative drugs, medical devices and biotechnology, it will provide key support for R&D projects that are actively or are about to enter commercialization, high-quality talents with technological transformation value, mergers and acquisitions and reorganizations of leading enterprises, etc., and promote the virtuous cycle of “technology-industry-finance”.
Reconstructing the industrial structure with a “global vision + local wisdom”. “Two-way empowerment” not only brings about the acceleration of technology iteration, but also promotes Nanjing’s leap from “Made in China” to “a source of global innovation”. At present, the scale of Nanjing’s biopharmaceutical industry has exceeded 200 billion yuan. Nanjing Biopharmaceutical Valley ranks eighth in the country in terms of comprehensive competitiveness. It is a demonstration zone for high-quality development in Jiangsu Province. It has successfully landed in the national university regional technology transfer and transformation biopharmaceutical branch center, and is moving towards the goal of a trillion-level life and health industry cluster.
