Since the reform and opening-up policy began, a group of world-known pharmaceutical enterprises have stepped into Shanghai and developed in an integrated manner with local players. By 2025, Shanghai is expected to witness an output of 1.2 trillion yuan ($167 billion) and preliminarily establish a technology innovation hub with global influence in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Industry Advantages

1. Enlarged Industry Scale

In 2022, Shanghai's biopharmaceutical industry scale exceeded 800 billion yuan for the first time; and the output value reached nearly 184.98 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.7 percent.

2. Collected Innovation Resources

A total of 26 biopharmaceutical enterprises are listed on the STAR Market of the Shanghai Stock Market, making up one-fourth of the total number of listed enterprises on the STAR Market in this sector and ranking No 1 in China.

A total of 18 of the world's 20 largest pharmaceutical enterprises and 17 of the world's 20 largest medical equipment enterprises have set up regional headquarters (RHQs), R&D centers or production bases in Shanghai.

3. Enhanced Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Protection

Shanghai Innovation Bay Customs has established China's first IPR customs protection center for sci-tech enterprises to provide guidance for biopharmaceutical enterprises to handle IPR customs protection registration and crack down on infringement.

4. A Strong Talent Pool

Shanghai has embraced around 241,000 industry professionals, including over 1,000 national-level experts. High-level talents, including academicians in the fields of life science and medicine, account for one-fourth of the total in China, ranking among the top nationwide.

Source: Shanghai Foreign Investment Guide 2023