Historic Breakthrough: Qilu Pharmaceutical Partners with NSFC on $13.2M Joint Fund to Tackle Bottlenecks in Biopharmaceutical Basic Research

On June 30, 2025, China's biopharmaceutical basic research and original innovation ushered in a historic moment.

With the development of the countryNatural ScienceFundSigning Ceremony of the Joint Fund for Innovative Development of Private Enterprises (hereinafter referred to as "Joint Fund") was held in Beijing. Qilu Pharmaceutical has taken a solid step forward in innovative research and development, marking the first time that China's National Natural Science Foundation has introduced a biopharmaceutical enterprise. Qilu Pharmaceutical will invest 90 million yuan, which, combined with the 9 million yuan from the National Natural Science Foundation, will provide original innovation support for solving major disease prevention and treatment challenges. This historic breakthrough will effectively promote the deep integration of basic research and applied research, offering a new approach to resolving bottlenecks in the pharmaceutical field. Dou Xiankang, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the National Natural Science Foundation Committee, and Zhang Minghui, Vice President of Qilu Pharmaceutical Group, attended the signing ceremony.

At the signing ceremony, Dou Xiankang reviewed the important contributions made by the National Natural Science Foundation since its establishment in the 1980s in supporting the high-quality development of basic research in China, and discussed the current state of basic research in China as well as policies to support the high-quality development of private enterprises.InterpretationHe analyzed the historical significance of this signing agreement in many aspects. He stated that the National Natural Science Foundation, as the main channel for funding basic research in China, can promote the development of the national innovation system through deep collaboration with the most innovative enterprises. Pharmaceutical companies such as Qilu Pharmaceutical, as the first batch of sponsors to join the joint fund, embarking on this journey together with the foundation holds profound significance. It is hoped that the guiding and cohesive role of the joint fund will be brought into full play, using joint fund projects as the source of scientific and technological innovation to attract and mobilize social scientific and technological forces and innovative talents to participate in basic research. Through the deep integration of industry, academia, and research operations, the enhancement of private enterprises' original innovation capabilities and the application of research results will be promoted. "I believe that with the support of the joint fund, it will certainly help private enterprises overcome key technical challenges, enhance core competitiveness, enabling Chinese private enterprises to stand firm in the complex market environment in the future, providing strong support for building a science and technology power and a manufacturing power."

Zhang Minghui, Vice President of Qilu Pharmaceutical Group, stated that biomedicine is a strategic emerging industry related to national economy, people's livelihood, and national security. It is an important support for meeting the needs of people’s pursuit of a healthy and better life, and a must-compete area for global scientific and technological innovation. Without original innovation "from 0 to 1," there can be no industrial innovation "from 1 to 100." Only by optimizing the forward-looking, strategic, and systematic layout in basic research, making collaborative efforts to break through cutting-edge leading technologies and key core technologies, and striving harder in building high-end innovative technology platforms, deepening industry-university-research collaboration, and creating high value-added, high-tech products with global competitiveness, can we seize the initiative in innovation. The National Natural Science Foundation of China is the main channel for basic research in China, the birthplace of original and disruptive achievements, as well as an incubator for scientific talents and a driving force for collaborative innovation. We hope that this signing will serve as an opportunity to fully leverage the "leveraging effect" and "magnet effect" of the joint fund, along with Qilu Pharmaceutical's innovation and industrial advantages. By focusing on addressing the urgent clinical and unmet medical needs, we aim to build a science and technology innovation community where innovative elements flow freely and innovation vitality flourishes, striving for more high-quality scientific and technological achievements to emerge quickly.

Qilu Pharmaceutical will officially participate in national basic research as a "problem poser," investing 30 million yuan annually for three years, totaling 90 million yuan. The National Natural Science Foundation of China will provide an annual matching fund of 3 million yuan at a ratio of 1:10, amounting to 9 million yuan over three years. Both parties will establish a collaborative mechanism of "enterprises posing problems, the scientific community answering them, and the Foundation organizing expert reviews," focusing onImmunityThe five core fields of disorders, abnormal cell proliferation, gene mutations and dysregulation of expression, metabolic abnormalities, and neurological diseases support scientists in conducting basic and applied basic research.

The Joint Fund for Private Enterprise Innovation Development of the National Natural Science Foundation is established by the National Natural Science Foundation Committee and enterprises together. It aims to play the guiding role of the National Natural Science Foundation, guide and encourage scientific and technological innovation-oriented private enterprises to increase investment in basic research, attract and gather advantageous research forces in China, closely follow the urgent needs of China's economic and social development, focus on core scientific issues in key technology fields to carry out basic research and applied basic research, promote the deep integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, stimulate the innovation vitality of private enterprises, and inject new momentum into the implementation of China's scientific and technological innovation strategy.

It is worth mentioning that this historic breakthrough will not only accelerate source innovation in the biopharmaceutical field, but also further improve China's pharmaceutical innovation ecosystem by cultivating interdisciplinary talents, optimizing the allocation of innovative resources, etc. The research results will also directly serve the "Healthy China" strategy, bringing more accessible and affordable innovative drugs to patients.

Data shows that the proportion of basic research funding in China's total research and experimental development funding has remained at around 6% in recent years, which is still significantly lower than the approximately 15% seen in major global technology-driven countries. The proportion of basic research investment by enterprises, as the main innovation subjects, remains relatively low. Taking the pharmaceuticals industry as an example, although China-produced innovative drugs are continuously being launched, the vast majority are either follow-up innovations or imitative innovations. This has led to serious product homogenization, with a lack of new mechanisms and new targets that have translational significance.

As one of the key enterprises in China's pharmaceuticals industry, Qilu Pharmaceutical has maintained strong growth momentum and industry competitiveness by relying on technological innovation. Currently, the company has cumulatively launched over 320 products, achieving full "head-to-toe" drug coverage. It has shown outstanding performance in the number of drugs passing the consistency evaluation, the number of first approvals, and the number of national centralized procurement bids won. In 2024, it ranked third on the Top 100 List of China's Pharmaceutical Industry.

In recent years, Qilu Pharmaceutical's innovation-driven strategy has continued to upgrade, establishing an international R&D system supported by six major research and development platforms linked between China and the United States. This has formed a high-level scientific research team led by more than a hundred top talents with international perspectives, with a dedicated R&D staff reaching 5,000 people. Currently, the company's annual R&D investment accounts for 12% of sales revenue, with cumulative R&D investment exceeding 20 billion yuan during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

At the same time, Qilu Pharmaceutical has built up a quality system in line with international standards.ManagementSystem, all staff, and the entire process safeguard drug quality, developing new productive forces with "premium products" to create an internationally influential "Made in China" brand. Products are stably exported to over 100 countries and regions, with approximately 1.5 billion patients globally using "Qilu Pharmaceutical's high-quality drugs" each year.

Zhang Minghui, Vice President of Qilu Pharmaceutical Group, said: "We adhere to long-termism, targeting major disease areas that seriously threaten people's life and health. We are firmly committed to continuously increasing investment, with the expectation of quickly achieving breakthroughs in new targets, new therapeutic fields, and novel complex formulations. Our goal is to create quality medicines for the Chinese people and continuously meet unmet clinical needs."

It is reported that, as of now, Qilu Pharmaceutical has laid out over 80 Class I national innovative drug projects, more than 20 of which have entered the clinical trial stage. A series of innovative achievements are accelerating to market: ALK-positive non-small cellLung CancerMolecular TargetingDrug "Qixinke", Innovative Combination Antibody Drug“Qilu Bei'an”Following the successive launches of several Class 1 new drugs in China; more than ten novel high-end formulations, such as microspheres, microcrystals, orally dissolving films, liposomes, soft capsules, nanoparticles, submicron emulsions, and pre-filled syringes, have also been successively launched, placing the company at the forefront of the industry.

Zhang Minghui stated that Qilu Pharmaceutical will take this as an opportunity to ensure high-quality management and operation in terms of funding, organization, and projects, jointly create a new paradigm for the joint fund, and accelerate the transformation of the biopharmaceutical industry from "catching up" to "leading the way," making new and greater contributions to achieving a high level of technological self-reliance and supporting the construction of Healthy China.