Ruijin Hospital-Led Guangci-Sinan Park Hosts 137 Companies and Files IPO Prospectus

In 2017, during the 110th anniversary celebrations, representatives from Shanghai Ruijin Hospital and the Huangpu District Government appeared together in the public eye.

At the conference, Academician Ning Guang, President of Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, stated that a hospital-adjacent innovation ecosystem would be established to further facilitate the translation of healthcare professionals’ innovative ideas into new drugs, medical devices, and novel treatment regimens for clinical application.

Two years later, the park known as America’s “Little Silicon Valley” emerged.“Guangci-Sinan National Translational Medicine Innovation Industrial Park”(hereinafter referred to as the “Guangci-Sinan Campus”).

Centered around Ruijin Hospital, which boasts strong clinical and research capabilities, the slogan proclaimed by this park is:

Complete clinical research on 1,000 innovative drugs and medical devices; train 1,000 specialized professionals for the biopharmaceutical industry; and gather healthcare enterprises with a total output value of RMB 100 billion.

As one of the initiators of the Guangci-Sinan Campus, Ruijin Hospital opened in Shanghai in 1907. By 1948, the hospital’s total floor area had reached 40,000 square meters, with 780 beds, and it was referred to by contemporaries as:

“The Largest Hospital in the Far East”。

With over a century of development, Ruijin Hospital has maintained its innovativeness in clinical medicine. In 2023, the hospital approved 136 clinical trial projects, including 42 international multi-center trials, with contract amounts totaling nearly RMB 140 million. It obtained approval for three innovative medical devices and one innovative drug. Twenty-five in-house developed in vitro diagnostic (IVD) reagents were approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for pilot use within the institution. The hospital filed nearly 400 patent applications and received approximately 320 patent grants.

Therefore, when Ruijin Hospital sought a location to establish a campus and provide dedicated space for the translation of scientific research achievements, it received a gracious invitation from the Huangpu District Government.

In 2019, the Huangpu District Government issued the "14th Five-Year Plan Outline," designating the Guangci-Sinan Park as the district’s sole biomedical and health industry park. Subsequently, Huangpu District continued to roll out the "50 Measures for Expanded Opening-Up," focusing on enhancing economic openness, the agglomeration of financial factors, the concentration of professional services, and investment facilitation.

Following the promulgation of the two policy regulations, all stakeholders have recognized the Huangpu District Government’s support for the development of the industrial park.

More importantly, the Huangpu District Government is vigorously developing the biopharmaceutical industry. Introducing Huangpu District’s latest biopharmaceutical policies, Shen Shanzhou, District Mayor of Huangpu, stated that in the future, Huangpu District will promote the development of the regional health services industry through the “Six Ones” initiative:

Establish a comprehensive policy framework, strive to break through RMB 100 billion in industrial output value, innovatively set up a special fund for industrial development, continuously build a technology transfer park, attract and gather a cohort of innovative forces, and resolve the “last mile” challenge in technology commercialization.

In January 2019, the construction of the Guangci-Sinan Campus was launched, with representatives from the Huangpu District People's Government, Ruijin Hospital, and Shanghai Yongye Enterprise Co., Ltd. jointly attending the meeting.

Unlike traditional bioparks, the Guangci-Sinan Park features a tightly integrated model where the hospital and the park serve as interconnected platforms. The park is not merely a spatial entity; rather, with Ruijin Hospital at its core, it establishes a radiation radius of 3–5 kilometers, forming a network of diverse physical carriers through a point-and-web structure. This configuration facilitates the deeper integration of Ruijin’s specialized resources.

The campus is divided into two parts.One segment focuses on high-end international non-public healthcare, specializing in R&D; the other provides financial incubation services. In between, the park’s platform company integrates resources to create a whitelist and facilitate collaboration with Ruijin Hospital.

As of 2023, the park had attracted a total of 137 companies, with a registered capital of RMB 1.48 billion. Among them is a medical-engineering interdisciplinary team led by Dr. Niu Chuanxin from the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Ruijin Hospital. Their developed “‘Deductor’ Somatic Skill Calculation and Scheduling Device” was commercialized into a start-up technology enterprise, which also settled in the Guangci-Sinan Park and successfully secured investment.

Tighten the hemp rope a bit more. The government, businesses, and enterprises are joining forces to ensure that the story of Huangpu District continues to be written. As Bill Gates wisely said:

"Big successes rely on teams; small successes rely on individuals."

Soon, a translational medicine building rose from the ground at Ruijin Hospital.

The original intention of this translational medicine building is to facilitate the translation and implementation of achievements from Ruijin Hospital’s leading departments. In selecting strategic directions, particular emphasis is placed on"Tumors, Metabolic Diseases, and Cardiovascular Diseases"Three Scientific Fields.

The Department of Oncology at Ruijin Hospital is among the fourth batch of National Key Clinical Specialty Construction Units. It specializes in chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and clinical research on new drugs for high-incidence solid tumors in China, such as gastrointestinal, breast, and pancreatic cancers. Faculty members have published more than 20 SCI-indexed papers. The department has participated in one international clinical trial, served as the lead institution for two domestic multicenter clinical trials, and taken part in four domestic multicenter clinical trials, including Phase I studies.

The Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Ruijin Hospital is one of the birthplaces of endocrinology and metabolic disease management in China. Since its official establishment in March 2002, under the leadership of prominent endocrinologists including Professors Chen Jialun and Xu Manyin, and Academician Ning Guang, it ranked first in the inaugural 2015 China Hospital Science and Technology Impact Ranking (Endocrinology and Metabolism). Its Clinical Endocrinology Laboratory is the only endocrinology-specialized laboratory in China to have obtained CAP accreditation.

Ruijin Hospital’s cardiovascular specialty also ranks among the top ten in China’s Hospital Specialty Rankings. The department includes two recipients of the National Natural Science Foundation’s Excellent Young Scientists Fund, one scholar selected for the Ministry of Education’s New Century Talent Program, and one Shanghai Leading Talent.

In 2023, Ruijin Hospital launched research initiatives in 75 key areas focused on the prevention and treatment of cancer, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and metabolic disorders, with project approval granted through open competition.

Within the Translational Medicine Building,By establishing systematic, large-scale, and integrated scientific infrastructure, this Translational Medicine Building at Ruijin Hospital supports physicians in conducting the entire process from clinical practice to basic research, pharmaceutical product and technology development, and back to clinical practice.

Located on the first and second basement levels of the building is a biobank with a capacity of tens of millions of samples. Human tissues, blood, metabolites, and other specimens are systematically stored in “biological freezers” at -80°C. The facility is also equipped with the world’s first automated biobanking system for sample storage and transport, featuring fully pneumatic transmission, ultra-low temperature storage, and scalability.

“Researchers need only place the processed samples into a printer-sized device on the bench; under computer control, clinical biological samples can be automatically transferred, accessed, and organized between the laboratory and the biobank in a convenient and efficient manner.”

Above ground, the building houses multifunctional smart clinical research wards, a human digital energy metabolism monitoring platform (metabolic chamber cluster), and a bioinformatics technology service platform.

Taking the multifunctional smart clinical research ward as an example, research-oriented beds are utilized on a rolling basis. The 300 beds within the translational medicine building can be deployed for clinical trials without the complexities of departmental alignment or waiting lists.

Less than two months after its opening, numerous pharmaceutical companies and research teams rushed to apply for access, driving the overall bed occupancy rate of the Ruijin Translational Medicine Building to 72.44%.

Since the project initiation of the Ruijin Translational Medicine Building in 2013, nearly a decade has been devoted to planning, land acquisition, and construction. The total investment amounts to nearly RMB 1 billion, with a gross floor area of 54,000 square meters. The building stands 56 meters tall and comprises 16 stories, including 13 above-ground floors and 3 basement levels.

Upon completion, the building was named:

China’s First Large-Scale Scientific Facility Integrating Clinical Medicine and Basic Research

All content produced by the Guangci-Sinan Campus is guided by the following principle:

What Does a Busy Physician Need in the Process of Translating Research into Practice?

First, atMechanistically, with the assistance of the Huangpu District Government, the park provides various market information and policy regulations related to business operations, and introduces scientific research achievement transformation consulting firms, patent application management companies, and patent law firms, thereby avoiding the risks and phenomena of “groping like a blind man” or “crossing the river by feeling the stones” during doctors’ entrepreneurial processes, thus improving the survival rate of startups;

Secondly, inIn terms of resourcesThe park will provide incubated projects with professional technical platforms and supporting services. Scientific research resources within the translational medicine major scientific infrastructure—including pharmaceutical R&D platforms, clinical trial beds, and biobanks—will offer first-class shared facilities to incubated enterprises. The introduction of contract research organizations (CROs), site management organizations (SMOs), clinical trial service providers for the biopharmaceutical industry, and biopharmaceutical intermediaries will ensure ample support services for these enterprises.

Finally, inFunding, government or corporate financing support is even more critical. The industrial park will simultaneously leverage investment resources—including venture capital integration, the establishment of industry promotion funds, and government-backed support funds—to help incubated projects achieve rapid growth.

In 2020, Ruijin Hospital converted its wholly-owned subsidiary, Shanghai Ruijing Information Technology Company, into a limited liability company and renamed it “Shanghai Guangci New Medical Innovation Life Health Technology Co., Ltd.”。

A new name, a new role. It is understood that the company will be responsible for advancing park development and handling daily operational management, providing comprehensive, one-stop services including park space expansion, investment promotion, enterprise services, talent services, project incubation, venture capital, financing services, and property management.

To facilitate the timely translation of scientific research achievements into commercial products, Ruijin Hospital and the Guangci-Sinan Park have jointly established a Technology Transfer Service Center. This initiative cultivates a cohort of technology managers to serve as project managers for technology transfer, thereby freeing inventors (or teams) from administrative burdens and enhancing the efficiency of achievement commercialization.

Through innovation competitions and project roadshows for the commercialization of research findings, Ruijin Hospital encourages and promotes innovative ideas from frontline clinical healthcare professionals, transforming their “bright ideas” into “high-quality products.”

Academician Chen Saijuan’s team has developed a gene therapy targeting platelet expression and completed the technology transfer with Shanghai Pharma Ruier, a subsidiary of Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Group, for a transaction value of RMB 270 million. Researcher Cao Yanan’s small nucleic acid drug (oligonucleotide-targeted therapy) also completed Shanghai’s first pilot case of equity investment by a medical institution based on asset valuation, and a joint venture project company has been established...

Companies that have established their presence here not only serve as benchmarks to attract more entrepreneurs but also encourage the commercialization of scientific and engineering achievements by scientists and engineers in the area through the establishment of funds.

Shandong Liangfu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. serves as a prime example. After establishing its presence in the Guangci-Sinai Park, Liangfu Pharmaceutical collaborated with the Shanghai National Center for Translational Medicine and the Shanghai Guangci Translational Medicine Research and Development Foundation to establish the “All-Trans Retinoic Acid (ATRA) Research and Application Innovation Award Fund” and the “All-Trans Retinoic Acid Translational Medicine Research Fund.” These funds are designed to support and reward clinical experts, basic research scientists, and engineers for their contributions to retinoic acid therapy, expansion of indications, and improvement of process quality.

This park, and this translational medicine building in particular, have empowered more physicians to confidently pursue the translation of their research findings into practical applications.

Although the translation of scientific achievements is widely recognized as a challenging endeavor, when a hospital is genuinely committed to accomplishing a goal, it will mobilize all its strengths and unite efforts to achieve it.