Biolake,China’s Pharmaceutical Valley

By Li Mo

Translation by Liu Jie

Biolake,China’s Pharmaceutical Valley

By Li Mo

Translation by Liu Jie

How long does it take an industry to develop from nothing into a powerhouse after its conception?

Biolake, or the Wuhan National Bio-industry Base, will tell you:only 9 years!

It is reported that Biolake in the Wuhan Optics Valley has already taken on 50 projects approved and included in National Major Special Projects for Drug Invention and Manufacturing Technology, and more than 300 on-going projects for new drugs.

Among them, 22 Category I new drugs have made it to clinics, including OsrHSA by Wuhan Healthgen Biotechnology,M802—HER2×CD3 by Wuhan YZY Biopharma, and PUDK-HGF by Humanwell Group.

Going back to the year of 2008,when the global financial crisis was at its peak, Biolake laid its foundation at the foot of Erfei Hill, which was then a desolate place to the southeast of Wuhan.

Hearing the news, the world’s top pharmaceutical enterprise,Pfizer Inc. came to China.Fresenius, the first Fortune 500 biotech company which set up a manufacturing base in Central China also came. Soon, other industry magnates like Thermo Fisher, Honeywell, Sanofi Pasteur, Sino-pharm Group,Menarini, China National Seed Group, BGI Genomics, Wuxi AppTec., and United Imaging all followed suit.

Within a couple of years, eight Fortune 500 companies and 50 listed companies set up their regional headquarters, R&D Centers or manufacturing bases in Biolake.

In 2016, Biolake achieved its first great breakthrough: The general income of the industry reached 100.5 billion yuan, and it has drawn 1,200 enterprises into the park.

As one of Wuhan’s three emerging industries of strategic importance, the health care industry of the Optics Valley has been growing annually by a compound rate of 30% over the past few years, ranking in the top three in the bioengineering and pharmaceutical industries of national high-tech zones in terms of comprehensive competitiveness, which laid a solid foundation for the industrial boom of Biolake.

In the field of biomedical engineering, eight of Biolake’s projects have been approved and included in National Major Special Projects for Scientific Instruments and Equipment Development. Over 400 medical apparatuses and instruments of Category II and above have been approved of entry into the market.

In precision medicine,a national center for the production of gene detection devices and technical application demonstrations was built, which has developed the first secondgeneration high throughput gene sequencer, and the fi rst device for capturing circulating tumor cells in China.

In bio-agriculture, the first new species of trans-genetic rice in China and the first rice whole genome breeding chip in the world have been developed in Biolake. In addition, the Honglian-type hybrid rice developed by Wuhan University,which now has its manufacturing base in Biolake, has been planted on nearly seven million hectares of farmland. The planting areas of over 50 new species of crops including cotton and rape developed in Biolake now have been increased to the largest of their type in the country. ♦

9年50个新药获国家重大专项

一个产业的孕育，从无到有，从有到强，耗时几载？

东湖高新区光谷生物城给出的答案：9年！

武汉国家生物产业基地发布数据显示，光谷生物城已有50个项目获国家新药创制科技重大专项立项，300多个新药项目在研。

其中，禾元生物的植物源重组人血清白蛋白注射液、友芝友制药的注射用重组抗HER2和CD3人源化双特异性抗体、人福医药的重组质粒-肝细胞生长因子注射液等22个一类新药进入临床。

时光倒回2008年，全球金融危机寒流弥漫。武汉东南荒烟蔓草的二妃山下，光谷生物城奠基。

全球第一制药企业美国辉瑞来了，首个在华中设立生产基地的生物500强费森尤斯来了。赛默飞世尔、霍尼韦尔、赛诺菲巴斯德、国药集团、美纳里尼、中种集团、华大基因、药明康德、联影医疗等行业巨头都来了。

几年间，8家世界500强、50家上市企业在光谷生物城设立区域总部、研发中心或生产基地。

2016年，光谷生物城首次实现“两个一千”突破，产业总收入跨越千亿大关，达到1005亿元，园区聚集企业1200多家。

作为武汉三大战略性新兴产业之一，过去几年，光谷生命健康产业以30%的年均复合增长率高速奔跑，位居国家高新区生物医药产业综合竞争力前三甲，为“药谷”的产业起飞奠定坚实基础。

在生物医学工程领域，光谷生物城还有8个项目获得国家重大科学仪器设备开发专项立项，400多个二类以上医疗器械产品获批上市。

在精准诊疗领域，建设了国家级基因检测产品生产和技术应用示范中心，研发出全国首台二代高通量基因测序仪、全国首台循环肿瘤细胞捕获仪。

在生物农业领域，诞生全国首个转基因水稻新品种、全球首张水稻全基因组育种芯片。“红莲型”杂交水稻累计推广面积破亿亩，棉花、油菜等50多个新品系种植推广面积全国第一。♦

中国“药谷”千亿元产业启航

文/李墨 译/刘洁