The scale of Shanghai's biomedical industry is on the verge of exceeding the one-trillion-yuan mark.

Just now, according to the latest data released by the Shanghai Statistics Bureau, in the first three quarters of this year, the output value of Shanghai's three leading manufacturing industries increased by 8.5% year-on-year, 2.8 percentage points faster than the total output value of industries above the designated size in the city. Among them, the output value of the biomedical manufacturing industry increased by 3.6%.

Notably, in the first three quarters of this year, thanks to the accelerated internationalization of innovative drugs and the continuous optimization of Shanghai's industrial policies and trade environment, the exports of pharmaceutical products and bulk pharmaceutical chemicals increased by 21.5% and 40.7% respectively.

Set to Surpass the Trillion-yuan Mark This Year

As one of the first cities in China to layout the biomedical industry, as early as 1993, Shanghai listed the modern biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry as a high-tech industry for key development. The positioning of Shanghai's biomedical industry has gradually upgraded from a key development industry to a pillar industry, and then become one of the three leading industries.

In 2020, the suggestions for Shanghai's 14th Five-Year Plan clearly proposed to "double the scale of the three leading industries of integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence" and "accelerate the formation of world-class industrial clusters in fields such as integrated circuits, biomedicine, and artificial intelligence, and build a new highland for independent innovation."

The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Shanghai's Biomedical Industry" released in 2021 further proposed that by 2025, Shanghai will initially build a core bearing area for a world-class biomedical industrial cluster, including six industrial parks with an output value of over 10 billion yuan each, and the industrial scale will exceed one trillion yuan.

Data released at the recently held 2025 Shanghai International Biomedical Industry Week showed that the scale of Shanghai's biomedical industry has been growing continuously in recent years. It increased from 761.714 billion yuan in 2021 to 984.702 billion yuan in 2024, with an average annual compound growth rate of 8.94%. The output value of the manufacturing industry increased from 171.2 billion yuan in 2021 to 201.167 billion yuan in 2024, with an average annual compound growth rate of 6.9%. In the first six months of this year, the scale of Shanghai's biomedical industry reached 500.566 billion yuan, and it is set to surpass the trillion-yuan mark this year.

In terms of enterprise agglomeration, the siphon effect of Shanghai's biomedical industry is remarkable.

Statistics show that as of the end of 2024, there were 2,183 biomedical enterprises above the designated size in Shanghai, covering diverse sub - fields such as manufacturing, services, and wholesale. Global industrial giants are particularly densely distributed. Among the top 20 pharmaceutical companies and the top 20 medical device companies in the world, 19 have chosen to set up their headquarters, production centers, or R & D centers in Shanghai. Since the beginning of this year alone, multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Roche and Daiichi Sankyo have successively announced large - scale investments to build production bases in Shanghai.

In terms of capital empowerment, Shanghai has continuously increased its support for the biomedical industry. In 2024, the Shanghai Biomedical Industry Mother Fund with a total scale of 22.5 billion yuan was officially established. So far, the selection of 13 sub - funds has been completed, and the capital amplification effect has reached 5.59 times. A merger and acquisition fund with a scale of 10 billion yuan was also established simultaneously, focusing on strategic mergers and acquisitions in fields such as traditional Chinese medicine, vaccines, and high - end medical devices.

In the field of investment and financing, Shanghai's biomedical industry has shown strong resilience and vitality. From 2021 to 2024, the cumulative financing in Shanghai's biomedical field reached 238.372 billion yuan, with 1,494 financing events. In the first nine months of this year, when the primary market had not fully recovered, the financing reached 25.531 billion yuan, with 169 financing events. Both the number of investment and financing events and the amount of financing ranked among the top in the country.

In addition, the "Shanghai Biomedical Sector" in the capital market is also expanding. As of the end of September 2025, a total of 102 Shanghai biomedical enterprises were listed on the A - share, Hong Kong - share, and US - share markets. Since the beginning of this year, new companies such as Visen Pharmaceuticals (02561.HK), Natures Plus (02530.HK), and GenFleet Therapeutics (02595.HK) have been listed, and many other companies are steadily advancing their listing processes.

A person in the industry told a reporter from Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that compared with other regions in the country, Shanghai's biomedical industry has three distinct advantages:

First, it has a profound industrial foundation and prominent internationalization advantages. Thanks to the long - term presence of many multinational pharmaceutical companies, a large number of pharmaceutical professionals have been trained in China, and rich international industrial experience has been accumulated. Especially in the layout of the CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls) stage, it has formed a significant competitive advantage over other cities in China.

Second, there is a high concentration of high - end talents. Both the total number of talents and the quality of core talents lead the country. In particular, a group of leading talents with overseas backgrounds, rich project experience, and the ability to promote the implementation of results have gathered here.

Third, the industrial ecosystem is complete, and a development pattern comparable to that of Boston has been formed. From the source innovation and transformation of projects introduced from universities, research institutions, and overseas, to professional service institutions at all stages of the entire industrial chain, innovation R & D support platforms, and industrial capital empowerment, and then to the supply of clinical resources and the expansion of hospital application scenarios, the most complete biomedical industrial ecosystem in the country has been established.

A Surge in Approvals for Innovative Drugs

With the support of multiple advantages such as industrial aggregation, talent concentration, and policy support, innovative achievements in Shanghai's biomedical industry have continued to emerge. The number of approvals for drugs and medical devices is an important indicator to measure industrial innovation. For example, in 2024, 7 Class 1 innovative drugs and 15 Class III innovative medical devices in Shanghai were approved for marketing, ranking second and first in the country respectively.

According to a reporter from Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily, from January to September this year alone, 7 domestic Class 1 innovative drugs and 7 domestic Class III innovative medical devices in Shanghai were approved for marketing.

Among a large number of innovative achievements, Shanghai has produced a number of "3F" innovative products, including First - in - class, First - in - China, and First - in - Human products. Taking this year as an example:

In January, Yisupaglutide α Injection, independently developed by Shanghai Yinnuo Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. (02591.HK), was approved for marketing by the National Medical Products Administration for the treatment of adult type 2 diabetes. Yisupaglutide α is the first domestic long - acting human GLP - 1 receptor agonist, which is expected to challenge the leading position of imported drugs such as semaglutide and tirzepatide.

In February, the innovative products, the Cardiac Pulsed Electric Field Ablation System and the Disposable Cardiac Pulsed Electric Field Ablation Catheter, independently developed by Shanghai Xuanyu Medical Device Co., Ltd., were approved for marketing. These two products, with the dual breakthroughs of "the first large - focal ablation catheter in China" and "the first single - sided targeted ablation catheter in China", have filled the technological gap in the field of cardiac pulsed electric field ablation in China.

In April, Bopidadacogene Injection, the first gene replacement therapy drug in China, was approved for marketing by the National Medical Products Administration for the treatment of adult patients with moderate to severe hemophilia B. This drug was independently developed and produced by Shanghai Xinzhi Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd., using the core technology of engineered recombinant adeno - associated virus (rAAV). Previously, only 8 similar rAAV gene therapy drugs had been approved globally. Its successful marketing not only filled the domestic gap in the relevant field but also marked a key breakthrough in China's gene therapy field.

In May, Velaglucerase β for Injection, developed by a Shanghai subsidiary of CanSino Biologics (01228.HK), was approved for marketing by the National Medical Products Administration. This is the first domestically developed long - term enzyme replacement therapy for adolescents and adults aged 12 and above with type I and type III Gaucher's disease in China, which can completely replace similar imported products.

In July, Renikeiolense Injection, a CAR - T product of Shanghai Hengrundasheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd., was approved for marketing, becoming the first fully independently developed CD19 CAR - T product for relapsed or refractory large B - cell lymphoma in China. It is worth noting that two CAR - T products that pioneered cell therapy in China, Axicabtagene Ciloleucel Injection of Fosun Kite (now Fosun Cary) and Relma-cel Injection of Legend Biotech (02126.HK), also originated in Shanghai.

The strong innovation vitality of the industry has continuously attracted global resources. License - out transaction data fully confirm this: In 2024, there were 38 License - out transactions in Shanghai's biomedical industry, with a total amount of 30.7 billion US dollars, accounting for 35% and 47% of the national total respectively. Among them, companies such as Jiahe Biotech, Alis, and Marway Biotech took the lead in achieving breakthroughs in going global through the "Newco" model. In the first eight months of this year, the transaction scale accelerated again, with a total of 37 transactions completed and a transaction volume of 18.8 billion US dollars, showing a significant year - on - year increase.

The aforementioned person in the industry told a reporter from Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily: In the future, Shanghai's biomedical industry will continue to focus on the forefront of innovation, concentrate on the transformation of top - notch domestic innovative technologies, and deeply cultivate the industry with long - term support. Instead of one - sidedly pursuing short - term economic value, it will focus on encouraging disruptive and hardcore innovation.

In terms of industrial direction, it will focus on supporting cutting - edge technology paths such as bispecific antibodies, ADCs, cell and gene therapy, small nucleic acid drugs, nuclear medicine, AI in medicine, synthetic biology applications, and clinical transformation of brain - computer interfaces. At the same time, it will focus on cultivating disruptive benchmark products, covering core directions such as the discovery of innovative drug targets in the pharmaceutical field and the R & D of first - in - class products in the medical device field.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Science and Technology Innovation Daily", author: Shi Shiyun. It is reprinted by 36Kr with permission.