Kanghua Bio's Shanghai R&D Center Unveiled in Zhangjiang, Marking a Key Step in Shanghai-Sichuan Collaboration for Biopharmaceutical Innovation

On April 10, the Shanghai R&D Center of Kanghua Biologics (300841.SZ), controlled by the Shanghai Biopharmaceutical M&A Fund under SIIC Capital, was officially unveiled in Zhangjiang Science City. Distinguished guests attending the unveiling ceremony included Xu Lai, Member of the Standing Committee of the Pudong New Area District Committee of the Communist Party of China, Deputy Secretary of the Leading Party Members’ Group of the District People’s Government, and Deputy District Mayor; Zhang Qian, President of Shanghai Industrial Investment (Holdings) Co., Ltd. (SIIC) and Chairman of SIIC Capital; Cao Hongming, Second-level Inspector of the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission and Director of the Biopharmaceutical Division; Ling Gang, Member of the Leading Party Members’ Group and Deputy Director of the Pudong New Area Science and Technology and Economic Commission; Hu Wei, Deputy Director of the Zhangjiang Science and Technology Construction Office; He Miao, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai State-owned Capital Venture Guide Fund; Yu Bowen, Deputy General Manager of Pudong Venture Capital; Liu Dawei, President of the Shanghai Biopharmaceutical Fund and Chairman of Kanghua Biologics; and Fan Changyong, Acting President of Kanghua Biologics.

Figure: Unveiling Ceremony

Figure: Cao Hongming, Level II Inspector and Director of the Biomedical Division, Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission

This unveiling marks another significant strategic move by the Shanghai Biopharmaceutical M&A Fund following its acquisition of a controlling stake in Kangh. The fund’s initial phase totals RMB 5.01 billion and was established by Shanghai Industrial Investment (Group) Co., Ltd., bringing together diverse investors including Shanghai municipal government guidance funds, industrial cluster guidance funds, financial institutions, and leading “chain-owner” enterprises. Since its inception, the M&A fund has completed three investments, notably acquiring a controlling interest in Kangh for RMB 1.851 billion in November 2025.

Kanghua Biological’s flagship product, the human diploid cell rabies vaccine, was the first of its kind in China. Following the completion of the acquisition, the merger and acquisition fund established Kanghua Biological’s vision and mission as “building a leading innovative biologics enterprise in China,” focusing on driving the company’s transformation from a “product-centric” to a “platform-centric” model and extending its scope from “prophylactic vaccines” to “therapeutic vaccines.” The Shanghai R&D Center serves as one of the key engines enabling this transition.“The mission of the Shanghai R&D Center is to become the company’s source of innovation and a hub for open collaboration,” stated Liu Dawei, Chairman of Kanghua Biological. “The Shanghai R&D Center will drive Kanghua’s shift from ‘follow-on innovation’ to ‘original innovation,’ strategically laying out technology platforms such as mRNA, recombinant proteins, and novel adjuvants, while fully leveraging Shanghai’s advantages in internationalized and specialized talent to seek breakthroughs in frontier areas such as therapeutic vaccines.”

Figure: Liu Dawei, President of Shanghai Biopharmaceutical Fund and Chairman of Kangh

VCBeat has learned that the Shanghai R&D Center is located in Zhangjiang Science City. The center has established comprehensive platforms for target screening, sequence optimization, delivery systems, and evaluation. More than 70% of its team members hold master’s degrees or higher. The Shanghai R&D Center will address unmet clinical needs by deepening research into disease mechanisms and expanding multi-technology platforms such as AI and synthetic biology, gradually forming a pipeline portfolio spanning preclinical studies, early-stage clinical trials, and Phase III clinical trials.

Kanghua Biologics’ strategy of “R&D Breakthrough and Global Innovation” leverages Shanghai’s advantages in high-end R&D talent and ecosystem while retaining the cost and efficiency benefits of Sichuan-based manufacturing, providing a new model for cross-regional innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry. Shanghai boasts abundant talent resources in the biopharmaceutical sector, with clinical resources and scientific research capabilities ranking among the top nationwide, fostering a strong culture of innovation. The establishment of Kanghua Biologics’ Shanghai R&D Center will further deepen collaborative innovation with universities, research institutes, and the industrial chain, using Shanghai as a strategic hub to accelerate integration into the global innovation network and expand international development channels.

The 2026 Government Work Report explicitly designated the biopharmaceutical sector as an emerging pillar industry for the first time, calling for “the high-quality development of innovative drugs and medical devices.” Shanghai’s 14th Five-Year Plan prioritizes biopharma as one of its three leading industries, continuously advancing the integration of the industrial, innovation, capital, and talent chains. The unveiling of Kanghua Bio’s Shanghai R&D Center represents both a concrete action in support of Shanghai’s biopharmaceutical strategy and another example of cross-regional collaboration empowering industrial upgrading. This also reflects the unique industrial investment approach of the Shanghai Biopharmaceutical M&A Fund, which leverages “patient capital” to connect cutting-edge technologies with industrial resources, thereby exploring a value creation pathway of “incubation–integration–leapfrogging” for the biopharmaceutical industry.

In the future, Kangh will leverage its Shanghai R&D center to pool innovative expertise and drive technological breakthroughs, contributing to Shanghai’s development as a global hub for biomedical innovation.