How China plans to ‘firmly rank at the global forefront’ with 25% of first-in-class drugs

China has set its sights on becoming a global biomedicine powerhouse by 2030, targeting key technological breakthroughs and at least a quarter of the world’s first-in-class drugs market under a new five-year plan for the sector.

By the end of the decade, China would “firmly rank at the global forefront” in biopharmaceutical research and development and applications, with its “core competitiveness” and international influence making a significant leap, authorities said on Friday.

The biomedical industry will emerge as a “pillar industry” for the nation, according to the pharmaceutical industry development plan published jointly by eight government agencies, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA).

The plan sets 10 measurable targets, including requiring large pharmaceutical enterprises to generate combined revenue of no less than 3.5 trillion yuan (US$522 billion), and for the country to produce at least 50 drug makers with an annual revenue exceeding 10 billion yuan each. Sinopharm, China’s largest drug distributor, generated 575 billion yuan last year.