Xinhua News Agency reported on December 1st that according to the website of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, China is incorporating bio-manufacturing as an important part of its next five-year plan to enhance technological autonomy and drive economic growth.
According to the "Public Notice on the List of Pilot Production Capacity Construction Platforms for Biomanufacturing (First Batch)" released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in November, Beijing is upgrading and expanding the national biomanufacturing ecosystem. The first batch of pilot production capacity construction platform lists has selected 43 enterprises and research institutions, with products covering biopharmaceuticals, food additives, enzyme preparations, and cosmetics, etc. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued three consecutive documents, regarding biomanufacturing, pilot production platforms, and fine chemicals, involving HMF, LCP, PEI, EVOH, CHDI, etc.
Analysts point out that this plan highlights the significance of biomanufacturing as China's next growth engine.
“In the coming years, biotechnology, including innovative drugs, will undoubtedly be a top priority for China,” said Wang Muzi, the managing director and research head of the healthcare industry at Citibank's Asian Research Department. “China needs to develop its entire biotechnology ecosystem by upgrading production lines and capacity, as well as enhancing clinical management capabilities.”
Huang Yang, the head of healthcare industry research for JPMorgan in the Greater China region, also expressed a similar view. He stated: "Biomanufacturing has been regarded by the government as one of the key growth drivers in the '15-19' development plan."
These pilot platforms are designed to assist innovators in overcoming the bottlenecks in research and development, manufacturing, and supply chain before achieving commercial production. This stage is often referred to as the "valley of death" because many highly promising innovative projects may get stuck here.
Huang Yang said, "In the past, researchers had great difficulty obtaining the opportunity for pilot-scale production. This was because manufacturers were often reluctant to take on small-scale and unprofitable orders. With these new platforms, researchers may now be able to get closer to potential commercialization."
A notice released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in June stated that it encourages pilot testing platforms to provide paid services based on market principles, and also requires them to enhance their capabilities in data security and biological safety.
The notice states that the government's goal is to have the pilot platform serve more than 200 enterprises by 2027, and to convert the research results into over 400 commercial products.
Liu Yugang, a partner at Simon Guo & Associates, said that for the selected research institutions and enterprises, the most important thing is policy guidance and official recognition.
Liu Yugang said, "Obtaining the official recognition from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is already a kind of capital or qualification. Now they can tell their clients that they have joined the first batch of certified platforms and can legally charge service fees at the market price."
The government's support comes at a time when Chinese biotech companies have achieved great success in licensing their early-stage candidate drugs to global pharmaceutical giants.
According to a report jointly released by EYC Advisory and Researcher Guest, from January to September 2025, the sales of early-stage assets sold by Chinese pharmaceutical companies to global partners soared to nearly 70 billion US dollars, an increase of nearly 8 times compared to 2021.
Analysts say that this policy is aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of China's biopharmaceutical industry, as an increasing number of multinational pharmaceutical companies are entering the Chinese biotechnology sector to cope with the pressure of drug pricing and patent expiration.
