Eleven Organizations Collaborate to Advance CGT Industry Upgrade Initiative at Guangzhou International Enterprise Incubator

“How to Design and Build

Compliant and Efficient ATMP Facilities》

“Regarding stability, speed, and cost-efficiency, both clients and suppliers seem to be pursuing the same goal: cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Yeasen delivers both cost savings and peace of mind. Cost savings are primarily achieved through import substitution, often exceeding customer expectations in terms of cost reduction. Peace of mind is ensured by providing high-quality products, a robust quality management system, and improved success rates in testing and applications, complemented by professional and timely pre-sales and after-sales support from our sales and technical teams.”

“Austar specializes in pharmaceutical consulting and engineering technical services, centered on three key words: safety, compliance, and efficiency. When planning and constructing a plant or a pharmaceutical facility, it is quite challenging to balance these three aspects from the initial stage of the project. Our team possesses practical experience in both international and domestic pharmaceutical projects, enabling us to provide comprehensive consulting and engineering technical services.”

“Currently, both CGT companies and the entire supply chain industry are pursuing ‘stability, speed, and cost-efficiency’; particularly ‘cost-efficiency,’ as clients have imposed increasingly stringent pricing requirements on service providers over the past two to three years. To enhance market competitiveness, both clients and service providers are driving cost reduction and efficiency improvements to promote healthy corporate development. Ultimately, we aim to establish a virtuous cycle in the collaboration between clients and service providers, achieving a win-win outcome.”

“I believe that ‘stability’ is not actually a requirement imposed by the client (Party A) on the service provider (Party B), but rather a fundamental expectation that Party B should have for itself, or a demand for continuous improvement. If one cannot even ensure the quality of the product, then the marketing materials presented lack any solid foundation. Therefore, regardless of whether the client explicitly demands it, Party B must maintain its own ‘stability’ and deliver outcomes that represent quality, service, and excellence in every aspect.”

“For industrial clients, we ensure model stability and data consistency; for hospital and university clients in the research sector, we strive to offer the most competitive pricing. We are fully capable of meeting all these requirements. Having operated in Shenzhen for seven years, we recognize that building a strong reputation and establishing brand value are paramount.”

“Why do clients want everything? A fundamental underlying reason is that clients themselves have their own clients, leading to intense competition throughout the process; both clients and service providers share the same demands. In our view, the domestic industry is developing at a very rapid pace. This is driven by two main factors: first, the localization of certain development instruments and equipment, and second, the rapid progress in developing specific functionalities following the emergence of new therapies.”

“We are also advancing pipeline candidates that major international pharmaceutical companies are not yet equipped to develop. To date, no other company globally is competing in the field of Menkes disease research; we are the sole player. This has attracted significant attention from top academic institutions and hospitals in Europe, the United States, and Japan that specialize in researching such diseases. Regarding the current state of industry development, I personally feel that while everyone’s hardware capabilities are excellent, there is substantial room for improvement in software.”

“Transitioning from laboratory-scale cell culture to industrialized production is akin to making a giant leap from small workshops to assembly lines. Initially, we aimed to prioritize domestically produced materials whenever possible. However, there are still certain disparities between domestic and foreign products. Our strategy has been to first learn from external sources when adopting new technologies and equipment, absorbing their high-quality aspects, and then seeking out viable domestic alternatives.”

“As a cutting-edge R&D enterprise in cell therapy, we place greater emphasis on the usability and reliability of suppliers’ products. We aim to accelerate development while ensuring stability. For products that have already entered clinical stages, we strive for greater precision and speed. If trialing and testing a supplier’s products would consume excessive time, we prefer to partner with established brands to expedite market rollout. While cost reduction and efficiency improvement may be deprioritized, we remain open to collaborating with domestic brands.”

“We aim to leverage our accumulated industry expertise and the ‘begin with the end in mind’ CMC philosophy to support our clients throughout the entire journey of their R&D projects—from Investigator-Initiated Trials (IITs) through product industrialization to commercialization—ultimately delivering gene therapy products that are truly affordable for the Chinese public. As a service provider, we constantly remind ourselves that clients engage us because they expect our CDMO’s CMC capabilities and compliant manufacturing to surpass both their own internal capacities and those of typical CDMO providers in the market. Only by meeting this higher standard can clients confidently entrust their business to us, derive tangible value from our partnership, and secure a competitive edge for their products in the marketplace.”

“VectorBuilder serves tens of thousands of clients worldwide, with a business coverage rate exceeding 90% among the top 30 global pharmaceutical companies. Leveraging our extensive accumulation of technical service expertise, our key focus is to translate client requirements into reality and solve problems. Frankly speaking, CDMO companies in China sometimes operate at a loss while providing services; we hope to work together with industry peers to foster the growth of this sector. Only when the downstream sector thrives and China’s CGT industry matures will we, as midstream CRO and CDMO companies, have greater room for development.”

“How should the future of biopharmaceuticals in China progress? I firmly believe one thing: as long as you can develop drugs that meet market needs, investors will be willing to invest. However, if you merely copy others’ work, it will be quite difficult. In biologics development, if you truly address patients’ unmet needs, you need not worry about profitability or market approval—you will surely succeed.”

“In the overseas business development (BD) market, multinational corporations (MNCs) typically have lengthy internal processes, necessitating long-term strategic preparation. Baiji Biopharma has leveraged its global footprint to establish collaborative partnerships with numerous MNCs. Meanwhile, China’s pharmaceutical industry comprises two major segments: traditional pharmaceutical companies and innovative drug enterprises. In previous years, both segments tended to overlook the importance of BD. However, in recent years, driven by policies emphasizing clinical value and measures such as national reimbursement negotiations and centralized volume-based procurement, these two markets are ultimately converging, thereby integrating the entire industrial chain.”

“Biopharmaceutical companies differ from other enterprises in that they rely primarily on external financing to sustain their development and ongoing operations. We urge all companies to closely monitor their cash flow and advise against excessive optimism. Since 2022, there has been a significant decline in financing amounts, with the biopharmaceutical sector being particularly hard-hit; no signs of improvement have been observed so far in 2024. It is now essential for everyone to face reality and stop clinging to past valuations. In terms of corporate fundraising, valuations should be lowered when necessary, as survival is more important than anything else.”

“Business development (BD) is a double-edged sword; it must be wielded effectively and with precision. On one hand, we aim to minimize corporate losses; on the other, companies must first ensure their survival. Regardless of the approach, I believe the priority should be securing financing while mitigating losses as much as possible. China’s healthcare industry is akin to a vast ocean, having always grown and strengthened through storms. From a developmental perspective, the sector demonstrates strong resilience, significant potential, and robust vitality, with its long-term positive fundamentals remaining unchanged.”