Beijing biopharmaceutical R&D service industry grows 30% annually

The famous columnist Harvard Business Review, Stefan Tomke, once made this assertion: “There is a deep-seated conflict in today’s world: the economy is increasingly dependent on services, and the innovation process is still product-oriented. There are many scientific product development and improvement methods, but there is no strict and continuous service development process.” This has also become the direction of the Beijing biomedical industry.

R&D services, the road to China's biopharmaceutical industry

According to statistics, the biomedical R&D service industry originated in the United States in the early 1980s. With the continuous improvement of US pharmacy management regulations at that time, new drug approvals became more stringent, leading to rising costs for new drug R&D and the cycle lengthening. In order to achieve survival and development in fierce competition, pharmaceutical companies outsource some or all aspects of the R&D process to outside research organizations or companies with specialized capabilities in order to increase research and development efficiency of new drugs and reduce costs and risks. Gave birth to R & D services. With the rapid development of the industry, its service content has been divided into three categories: R&D planning services, R&D project services, and R&D results services, thereby covering the entire process of biomedical R&D.

Similar to the United States, the biggest challenge facing China's biomedical industry is also to find a perfect service system that is most suitable for R&D. With the continuous refinement of the global innovation division of labor, the innovation chain in the field of new drug development has been significantly elongated. In order to achieve the optimal allocation of resources, the R&D chain of new drugs has been divided into multiple links and sub-contracted to different specialized agencies for research. In other words, the birth of a new drug is no longer the result of research and development by a single institution as it was in the past, but rather the result of the joint efforts of multiple professional agencies. With the adjustment and change of this new drug R&D model, the R&D service industry, as a new type of business, has been completely embedded in every aspect of the R&D industry chain and has become an indispensable component and support in the innovation chain.

With this change, the Beijing Science and Technology Commission has supported the “industry-based ties” industry innovation alliance from supporting single enterprises and single projects. This increasingly clear mechanism and system innovation strategy and steps trigger Beijing Bio The driving force behind the reform of the pharmaceutical industry.

Based on the concept of institutional innovation, the Beijing Science and Technology Commission has discovered that the degree of development of the biomedical R&D service industry is an important indicator of the ability to create new drugs in a country and a region. It plays an indispensable component and supporting role in the innovation chain. It is also an important basis and guarantee for the establishment of a new drug development system based on enterprises. The Beijing Municipal Commission of Science and Technology believes that “the level of capability and level of development of the R&D service industry is directly related to the overall improvement of the level of drug discovery in Beijing and even China.”

Under the leadership of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Science and Technology's groundbreaking mechanism for institutional innovation, based on the idea of ​​a mechanism-based institutional innovation, complying with the law of industrial development and proceeding from market demand, it will attract and rely on domestic and foreign outstanding service-oriented enterprises and R&D institutions to jointly establish China. The Biotechnology Outsourcing Service Alliance (ABO Alliance) has played an increasingly important role in promoting the development of the capital biomedical field. “Utilizing industrial coalitions to aggregate resources has become an important means of promoting the development of the producer services industry. An important task of the ABO Alliance is to form a complete chained service, use the entire industry chain to dialogue with multinational companies, enhance their competitiveness, and participate in The global division of labor.” Beijing Science and Technology Commission made an interpretation of the positioning of the ABO alliance.

According to statistics, the China Biotechnology Outsourcing Service Alliance (ABO) is currently one of the important forces driving the restructuring of China's biopharmaceutical industry. Ten years ago, China's bio-pharmaceutical industry relied completely on manufacturing. Now, in the developed areas of Beijing, Shanghai and other bio-pharmaceutical industries, the integration of manufacturing and services is gradually emerging. According to Zhang Zegong, deputy director of Beijing Biotechnology and New Pharmaceutical Industry Promotion Center (BPBC), “As a national innovation center, Beijing has leading scientific and technological resources and rich clinical resources, and has a number of R&D service organizations with proprietary technologies and relative The centralized drug administration system therefore has a unique advantage in the development of medical R&D service industry. Because of this, Beijing has undoubtedly become a representative region for the rapid development of China's pharmaceutical R&D service industry.”

It is based on this judgment that Beijing's biopharmaceutical industry has begun to enter a brand-new phase of service development. Statistics show that the annual revenue of Beijing biomedical R&D service industry has exceeded 5 billion yuan. Judging from the service content, Beijing has formed a scale in drug clinical trial services, preclinical research services for drugs, and new drug development and transfer services. Despite this, Beijing's biomedical R&D service companies are still the same as in the country. Although they have some unique patents or proprietary technologies, they are generally in the initial stage and are generally small in scale.

Take advantage of the alliance to promote industrial development

In order to form a joint force, the Beijing Science and Technology Commission strongly supports the standardization and standardization of the ABO Alliance and helps them penetrate and integrate into the global market. On this basis, the ABO Alliance aims to enhance the efficiency and level of research and development of new drugs, expand Beijing's biomedical R&D service industry, and promote industrial restructuring as the fundamental goal. It is determined to achieve "the same world, unified standards through resource integration, brand sharing, and joint marketing. "Integrated into the global innovation chain to provide customers with "one-stop" system solutions. In the past three years, ABO has served global innovation activities and integrated SMEs, the most active element in the innovation chain. Through market-based and substantive operational mechanisms, ABO has made beneficial attempts for the development of Beijing's biomedical R&D service industry. explore.

Up to now, the members of the ABO Alliance have grown from 8 at the beginning to 28, with 3 laboratories that have passed the international AAALAC accreditation, 3 GLP laboratories, 4 GMP workshops, and 1 that are applying for US FDA certification. The production workshop also has three major incubator bases, including diagnostic reagents, pilot tests, and project incubation, as well as an internal support platform that integrates laboratory software management systems, instrument analysis, information, and talent training. It has also been integrated into the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Four institutions, including the China Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products, Beijing Normal University, the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, the National Center for Biomedical Analysis, and the National Beijing Drug Safety Evaluation Research Center, have formed genome-related technical services, antibodies, and proteins. Technical service solutions, drug safety evaluation, chemical synthesis and formulation research and development, the city's new infectious disease rapid response system, and internal support platforms.

Now, the ABO Alliance will use the platform of the Twelfth Bio-pharmaceutical Industry Development Forum to fully display the strength of Beijing's bio-pharmaceutical R&D service industry from one side to the outside world, thus promoting the rapid development of biomedical R&D service industry in Beijing and even China. It is understood that the Beijing Biopharmaceutical Industry Development Forum, which is a Beijing-based biopharmaceutical industry's external image display window, started in 1997 and has been successfully held for 11 sessions. It has become the longest-running forum in the domestic biopharmaceutical industry. Over the years, the Forum has been striving to accurately grasp international hotspots and needs from a unique perspective, so as to guide the development of China's bio-pharmaceutical industry and has become a benchmark for the development of the industry. In the 12 years of the forum, it was the 12th year that has driven and witnessed the rise and rapid development of China's biopharmaceutical industry.

As early as 1999, the forum took the lead in putting forward the concept of CRO in China and used it as a platform to discuss the prospects and opportunities of domestic colleagues. With the growing strength of foreign-funded pharmaceutical companies in China, the transfer of research and development to developing countries has become a global climate. In 2004, the forum called “Choice and Breakthrough” as the theme, inviting multinational giants to negotiate with the top domestic figures on the global pharmaceutical industry. The rise of China and the Chinese factors have pointed the way for domestic and foreign biopharmaceutical companies to go hand in hand. In 2008, China’s biomedical R&D service industry represented by Beijing and Shanghai has already begun to take shape, and China has become one of the first choices for international R&D service transfer. Under this background, the forum selected “One World, Unified Standard” as The question, moreover, hopes to take advantage of the rapid development of R&D service industry to promote the integration of China's bio-pharmaceutical industry into the international market in a wider range, so that China will truly become an important part of the international bio-pharmaceutical innovation chain.

Promote industrial upgrading and create an integrated advantage

Through these unremitting efforts, Beijing has not only become a landmark region and market for China's biomedical R&D service industry, but has also begun to land on the global stage. In the fierce market competition, Beijing's biopharmaceutical R&D service industry has gradually established its own advantages and has entered a rapid growth period. At present, Beijing has formed a number of key enterprises in the field of biomedical R&D services and has taken the lead in the country. Its development model is worth learning from.

Taking Kanglong Huacheng (Beijing) New Drug Technology Co., Ltd. as an example, as a biopharmaceutical company initiated and invested by US Pharmaron Co., Ltd. with a total investment of US$4.3 million in Beijing, its main business is to provide global pharmaceutical companies and biopharmaceutical companies with combinatorial chemistry, Services in the fields of pharmaceutical chemistry and synthetic chemistry are targeted at the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies including Merck and Pfizer. In the three years since its establishment, Kanglong Huacheng’s employees have grown rapidly from 80 to 540, and its main operating income has also increased from US$1.5 million in 2004 to US$10 million in 2007. Its clear business positioning and rapid development have attracted the attention of domestic and foreign venture capital. With the expansion of business and the continuous introduction of overseas talents, Kanglong Huacheng’s service sector is gradually developing drug analysis services, pharmacokinetics research and development services, synthesis and production of compounds and chemical intermediates, and raw materials for preclinical research. Synthesis, production, and even large-scale expansion of raw material production. As the largest biomedical R&D service company in Northern China, Kanglong Huacheng aims to develop a new drug R&D service outsourcing base including 200 standard laboratories and 2,000 R&D personnel within 3 years, achieving an annual revenue of 5 Billion yuan and successfully listed overseas.

Another typical enterprise in Beijing's biomedical R&D service industry, Beijing Yingxin Taikang Technology Co., Ltd., has developed another representative road based on its R&D service industry strategy. Faced with a huge domestic overcapacity in production, Yingxin Taikang chose a route that is different from the upstream R&D of India's raw material manufacturing companies. It tried to take advantage of its own research and development services in chemical drugs and its familiarity with international standards. The downstream production expansion has formed a business model that drives production with R&D. In 2007, Yingxin Taikang’s R&D service income was 6 million yuan, including foreign exchange income of 50,000 US dollars.

The rapid growth of biomedical R&D service companies in Beijing cannot be separated from Beijing's unique advantages. Taking the evaluation of non-clinical safety of drugs as an example, Beijing ranks the leading domestic position in this field. There are 8 non-clinical safety evaluation centers for drugs in Beijing, including 5 national drug safety evaluation and monitoring centers, Beijing Drug Safety Evaluation Research Center, Beijing Xiehe Jianye Pharmaceutical Technology Development Co., Ltd., and Beijing Zhaoyan New Drug Research Center. The Research Center for New Drug Safety Evaluation of the Institute of Medical Laboratory Animals of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences has passed the GLP certification in China. The National Animal Assessment Center Laboratory Animal House and the Institute of Laboratory Animals of the Academy of Medical Sciences have passed the international AAALAC accreditation. Zhaoyan New Drugs are currently conducting international AAALAC certification. .

In the field of biomedicine in Beijing, the accelerated penetration of the service industry into the manufacturing industry has become the mainstream and trend of industrial economic development. In the process of R&D, procurement, storage, operation, management, financing, sales, after-sales service, and information feedback in the industrial chain, the proportion of service links is increasing, and the effective operation of the entire industry chain depends on the service industry. The degree is growing. In the context of this industry, Beijing's biomedical R&D service industry has adapted to the capital city's functional orientation and resource endowments, and has risen rapidly in just a few years. It has occupied one-sixth of Beijing's bio-pharmaceutical industry, and its annual growth rate remains at About 30%. With the development of the R&D service industry, the all-round upgrade of Beijing's biomedical industry is gradually approaching, and the wider development space for the entire industry is already evident.