Four Innovative Biopharma Companies from Baoshan Listed in the '2024 China Biopharma Front-Runners 100'
BAO PHARMA
Biopharmaceutical R&D and Manufacturer
Drug Farm
Innovative Therapies Researcher for Infectious and Immune Diseases
Recently, the "2024 China Biomedical Front-Runners 100" list was重磅 released at the Biomedical Industry Investment and Financing Forum, part of the 2024 China Pharmaceutical Industry Development Conference · Shanghai International Biomedical Industry Week series of events! Four innovative biomedical companies from Baoshan District made it to the list.
BAO PHARMA, founded in 2019, is a high-tech enterprise that focuses on the core of recombinant protein drug technology research and development, integrating industry, academia, and research for comprehensive pharmaceutical development. It encompasses drug design and R&D, manufacturing, corporate services, and end-product development. With two campuses in Baoshan covering over 150 acres, it has built approximately 100,000 square meters of R&D and production facilities. This makes it one of the few synthetic biology industrial platforms in China equipped with mammalian cell, yeast cell, and E. coli expression systems. BAO PHARMA has over 10 new drug pipelines under development, with two having submitted Biologics License Applications (BLA), and one each in Phase I, II, and III clinical trials. BAO PHARMA specializes in technological breakthroughs, developing biopharmaceutical products with high technical barriers and generational upgrades. It aims to be a pioneer in replacing biochemical extraction products with genetic engineering, an advocate of combination therapies involving recombinant enzymes, antibodies, and gene therapy, and a leader in the assisted reproductive niche market. The company strives to become a model of differentiated competition in the biopharmaceutical industry and a unicorn in its niche market. In July this year, BAO PHARMA completed a Series C financing round worth hundreds of millions of yuan led by the Shanghai Biomedical Fund, with participation from the district's state-owned investment fund. In September, BAO PHARMA reached a supply and transfer agreement with Organon China regarding the innovative drug SJ02 in the field of assisted reproduction, granting Organon China exclusive commercial rights to SJ02 in mainland China.
Yihui Biotechnology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was established in 2020 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jiangsu Zhonghui Yuantong Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Adhering to the principle of not pursuing simple replication in project initiation, the company is committed to building an innovative R&D team with international vision and standards, focusing on the research and industrialization of innovative human vaccines. To date, the company has developed multiple technological platforms, including a recombinant genetic engineering vaccine research platform, an mRNA vaccine research platform, a polysaccharide conjugate vaccine research platform, and an innovative adjuvant research platform. It is also rapidly advancing the research and production of several development pipelines, such as multivalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, recombinant herpes zoster vaccines, recombinant respiratory syncytial virus vaccines, and mRNA poxvirus vaccines. Within this year, four Class 1 new drug IND applications have been approved, including a recombinant herpes zoster vaccine (CHO cells), a quadrivalent influenza virus subunit vaccine (adjuvanted), and an influenza virus subunit vaccine (adjuvanted).
Drug Farm is a biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery of drug targets and the development of original new drugs (First-in-class). It focuses on exploring innovative treatment solutions for hepatitis B, inflammation, rare diseases, and autoimmune diseases. With the IDInVivo+ drug target discovery platform and the Medchem5 artificial intelligence medicinal chemistry platform, Drug Farm leverages cutting-edge technologies in genetics and artificial intelligence to directly screen gene targets in animals with intact immune activity. This provides a breakthrough approach for discovering new therapies and combines biological data to develop preclinical molecules, forming a positive closed loop from biological targets to drug structures, greatly enhancing the efficiency of discovering new drug chemical structures. The world's first small-molecule new drug for the functional cure of hepatitis B, DF-006, has completed Phase I clinical trials globally in New Zealand. The self-developed original new drug DF003, indicated for kidney disease and cardiovascular disease, has completed Phase I clinical trials in the United States. It has also shown a good response to the rare ophthalmic genetic disease ROSAH syndrome and has been granted pediatric rare disease designation by the FDA. Based on continuous breakthroughs in scientific research technology, Drug Farm has cumulatively received approximately 650 million RMB in financing.
Golden Arrow Robotics is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the research, development, production, and sales of limb rehabilitation robots. It is also recognized as a specialized and innovative enterprise. Relying on a professional robot R&D team composed of university professors, Thousand Talents Program scholars, overseas returnee Ph.D.s, and other experts, the company has completed the development of various intelligent rehabilitation robots, including lower limb rehabilitation robots, single-joint exoskeleton robots, upper limb rehabilitation robots, dual-arm upper limb rehabilitation robots, bedside rehabilitation/critical care rehabilitation systems, and smart travel multifunctional walkways. Additionally, it has developed multiple software platforms, such as a cognitive training platform based on virtual reality technology, a cloud platform, and a metaverse-based rehabilitation diagnosis and treatment system. This forms a complete set of hardware and software integrated limb rehabilitation solutions. The company has successfully completed a Pre-A round of financing worth tens of millions of RMB. Currently, it has obtained five Class II medical device registration certificates in China and U.S. FDA certification, applied for 51 national patents and computer software copyrights, and participated in the 2018 National Key R&D Program by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the 2022 National Major Instrument Development Project funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Its core technologies are internationally leading. A multi-level rehabilitation system covering tertiary hospitals, grassroots hospitals, community health service centers, and households has been established, with applications already launched in several large-scale medical and elderly care institutions.
About the "2024 China Biomedical Front-Runners 100" List
The solicitation and release of the Front-Runners list is an important measure to grasp forward-looking hotspots, explore the technological frontier, and create a "weathervane" for industry development. In October 2023, the first China Biomedical Front-Runners list was released, selecting benchmark enterprises in three fields: biomedicine, medical devices, and digital healthcare, which attracted widespread social attention and discussion.
Compared with last year, this year's list selection process remains consistent with the core values of innovation and value pursuit upheld by the leading companies in the biopharmaceutical industry. In terms of organization, there is a stronger emphasis on enhancing influence and continuously expanding partnerships. Collaborating with Shanghai Biomedical Fund, Shanghai SDIC Pioneer, Qiming Venture Partners, Boyuan Capital, Haitong Securities, Shanghai Frontier, Shinzhe Zhixing Port, and ATLATL Innovation Center to build an ecosystem synergy, while linking up with Yicai Media Group, PharmaCube, R&D Guest, DrugTimes, and tmtpost to establish a media matrix.
In terms of selection methods, greater emphasis is placed on credibility, fully highlighting the benchmark significance. The list collection adopts a combination of selection and recommendation systems. Data collection combines open information with field research, while evaluation involves model scoring and expert review to ensure scientific "entry and exit" in the selection process, reasonable "promotion and demotion" for shortlisted candidates, and balanced consideration of both leading enterprises making "big strides forward" and innovative companies achieving "quick small steps."
In addition, during the compilation of the list, the focus was on innovation, scanning a group of "low-profile" high-value companies; with an eye on vitality, considering the company's valuation while balancing growth and expected value...
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Through the selection of rankings, it is gratifying to see that China's pharmaceuticals industry has moved from "general innovation" to an era of "selective high-quality innovation." The growth of First-in-class and Fast-follow innovations continues, with research and development pipeline targets constantly advancing. In the biopharmaceuticals field, there is a broad layout of next-generation drugs such as cell therapy, gene therapy, multi-specific antibodies/bispecific antibodies, ADC, PROTAC, and nucleic acid drugs. In the medical devices sector, breakthrough innovations like high-end imaging equipment, surgical navigation and robotics, high-throughput sequencing, and brain-computer interfaces are emerging one after another. In digital healthcare, AI drug discovery, telemedicine, and digital therapeutics are not only expanding and enriching application scenarios but also promoting the decentralization of quality medical resources, benefiting more patients.
Through the list selection, it has also been discovered that a group of companies are accelerating their internationalization and globalization processes. The influence of Chinese pharmaceutical companies in shaping the international market is strengthening. In the biopharmaceutical field, License-out transactions have repeatedly reached new highs, and international multicenter clinical trials have become a "must" for many companies. Some enterprises even adopt a "dual-core" development strategy emphasizing both China and the U.S. from their inception. In the medical device sector, overseas mergers and acquisitions and foreign investments have become important measures for companies to expand into international markets. For some enterprises, their overseas markets are expanding from European and American countries to BRICS nations and countries participating in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road," exploring new development opportunities and survival spaces. In the digital healthcare field, leveraging policy advantages, talent advantages, and more, companies are seizing the opportunity to gain an early foothold in the global market. AI pharmaceutical companies and multinational pharmaceutical firms are achieving continuous cooperation results in discovering new targets and mechanisms. Internet healthcare and telemedicine have yielded fruitful results in China’s foreign medical assistance and regional public health prevention and control.
Source: Shanghai Baoshan