Go to Hangzhou! The Era of Biopharmaceutical Entrepreneurship in a Full-Chain Ecosystem Is Now
In 2015, Jishi Biopharma was founded in Seattle, United States. Through frequent interactions with the Silicon Valley Innovation Workstation established in Hangzhou, the founding team gained an in-depth understanding of the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in the Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Area. They decided to establish three enterprises in the area: Yizhen Biotech, Yi’an Jishi, and Yijing Biotech. While operating independently, these entities are interconnected and jointly advance precision medicine. Among them, Yi’an Jishi later emerged as a “quasi-unicorn” enterprise in the Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Area.
In 2016, the Pfizer Global Biotechnology Center broke ground as the first project launched by a multinational pharmaceutical company in the Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Area. Comprising a biotechnology R&D center and a production base, this initiative represents Pfizer’s largest overseas investment over the past eight years, as well as its third biotechnology center globally and the first in Asia.
In 2018, the medical device division of Jiuyuan Gene, a subsidiary of Huadong Medicine Group, was established in the Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone. As one of the earliest genetically engineered pharmaceutical companies founded in China, Jiuyuan Gene has been honored as a National High-Tech Enterprise and a Key High-Tech Enterprise under the National Torch Program, and has become a Provincial High-Tech Research and Development Center as well as a sub-platform for technical services in the research of new genetically engineered drugs.
An increasing number of leading biopharmaceutical projects are choosing the Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone as their base for launch or expansion.
In May 2018, the Hangzhou Municipal Government officially conferred the title of “Hangzhou Medicine Port” upon the Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Area. After years of industrial cultivation during its tenure as the Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Area, Hangzhou Medicine Port has focused on four key sectors: biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, biomedical engineering, and medical big data. It has attracted seven of the world’s top ten pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Merck & Co., Abbott, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson. The port has gathered more than 950 biopharmaceutical enterprises, achieving main business revenue of RMB 35 billion, accounting for over 50% of the city’s total, thereby fully demonstrating its industry-leading role as the core zone.
Since 2019, Hangzhou has successively issued important policy documents and strategic deployments, including the Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Innovative Development of the Biopharmaceutical Industry in Hangzhou and the New Manufacturing Plan. These initiatives set forth the goal that by 2025, Hangzhou Medicine Port will increase R&D investment by RMB 40 billion, attract 500 leading talents in the biopharmaceutical sector, introduce more than 2,000 biopharmaceutical enterprises, and achieve an industrial scale of RMB 100 billion. The city strives to establish a National Center for Innovation in Biopharmaceuticals and build Hangzhou into a domestically leading and world-class hub for biopharmaceutical R&D and innovation.
Since its inception, Hangzhou Medical Port has established an internationalized philosophy and a global perspective, proposing to focus on the integration and aggregation of global biomedical resources while prioritizing the development of a full-chain biomedical ecosystem driven by the convergence of the “six chains.” The “six chains” refer to the industrial chain, talent chain, innovation chain, ecological chain, financial chain, and service chain.
At Hangzhou Medical Port, the park has established 35 public service platforms through collaborative development and strategic introductions. These platforms cover every stage from preclinical research and clinical trials to regulatory approval, drug manufacturing, and commercialization, forming an end-to-end ecosystem that bridges drug R&D from the laboratory to market-ready products. This constitutes the most distinctive component of the “Six Chains” in its full-chain ecological framework.
It is reported that Hangzhou Medical Port has benchmarked against the development experiences of successful industrial parks both domestically and internationally. By collaborating with top-tier research universities to establish joint research institutes, partnering with industry-leading enterprises to build public service platforms, and working with hospitals and universities to create centers for technology transfer and commercialization, it has provided innovation capabilities and technical service support to enhance scientific research standards, talent resources, and enterprise development in the biopharmaceutical industry.
With the successive establishment of the Institute of Innovative Drugs (Hangzhou) at Zhejiang University, the Institute of Cancer and Basic Medicine at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Public Service Platform for Biopharmaceutical R&D at Hangzhou Medical Port, and the Clinical Trial Center of The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, the ecosystem chain provides readily accessible, precision services to support pharmaceutical companies in developing new pipelines and startups in their early-stage growth.
In terms of joint initiatives with universities. Hangzhou Medicine Port, in collaboration with Zhejiang University, has established the Institute for Innovative Drug Research, focusing on the development of five major platforms: an AI-driven drug discovery platform, an “electronic medicine” platform, a big data-driven platform for molecular entity and virtual libraries, a preclinical research platform for innovative drugs, and an intelligent pharmaceutical design platform.
Furthermore, the Institute of Oncology and Basic Medicine, co-established by the industrial park and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, serves as a public experimental platform for scientific research, specialized experimental platforms, a biobank platform, an experimental animal platform, an oncology big data center, and a technology transfer platform.
Collaboration with Leading Enterprises. The Hangzhou Medicine Port Biopharmaceutical R&D Public Service Platform is a public service platform for innovative drug research and development, capable of establishing four major platforms: high-expression stable cell line construction, microbial fermentation R&D and production, viral vector R&D and production, and single-use technology R&D and production.
To meet the critical clinical trial needs of park-based enterprises for launching innovative products, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine (FAHZU) has established a Clinical Trial Center at Hangzhou Medical Port, providing technical consulting services and facilitating business coordination. Additionally, FAHZU has built an Early-Phase Clinical Research Laboratory and dedicated clinical trial wards within its hospital facilities.
According to relevant officials at Hangzhou Medical Port, a startup within the park focused on developing novel drugs primarily based on BTK inhibitors completed its toxicological and pharmacological studies at the Zhejiang University (Hangzhou) Innovation Institute. Comparative research revealed that the renal toxicity of its investigational drug was significantly lower than that of the originator drug. In the increasingly competitive field of BTK inhibitor development, identifying unique advantages for specific candidates is undoubtedly crucial. Upon entering the clinical trial phase, the Clinical Trial Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine provided continued support across the ecosystem chain. Clinical data from more than ten patients in the Phase I trial confirmed that the drug indeed exhibited lower toxicity compared to other counterparts. The advantages identified during laboratory research facilitated faster and smoother clinical trials, earning this startup significant favor from top-tier capital investors.
To accelerate the aggregation and development of innovative entrepreneurial projects at Hangzhou Medical Port, a global call for health and medical innovation and entrepreneurship projects is currently underway. The event is jointly hosted by the Administrative Committee of Hangzhou Qiantang New Area, the Talent Office of the Hangzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Hangzhou Investment Promotion Bureau, and the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine (FAHZU). It is co-organized by Hangzhou Medical Port Town, Hangzhou Dachuang Town, the Innovation and Translation Center of FAHZU, and VCBeat.
This event extends a broad invitation to innovative projects from medical institutions, medical research organizations, and university laboratories at all levels, both domestic and international, as well as innovative projects at various stages in the health and healthcare sector. Selected projects will be awarded honors such as the Shortlist Award, the Crested Ibis Award, and the White Rhino Award, and will receive innovation empowerment across multiple dimensions, including policy support, technical assistance, ecosystem integration, capital investment, and brand building.
Award-winning projects may receive: comprehensive policy support and guarantees from Hangzhou and the Qiantang New Area; technical empowerment through 11 innovation service platforms jointly established by Hangzhou Medical Port and prestigious universities worldwide; full-chain ecosystem empowerment via public service platforms such as the Innovation Translation Center of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, the Clinical Trial Center of the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine at Hangzhou Medical Port, the Public Service Platform for Biopharmaceutical R&D at Hangzhou Medical Port, and the Zhejiang Institute for Medical Device Testing; financial support from a RMB 5 billion industrial fund of funds, in collaboration with top-tier domestic and international pharmaceutical investment funds; and extensive resource matrices, including media dissemination services provided by over 100 leading global media outlets.
Starting today, you can register by visiting the official event website. URL: https://vcbeat.top/Forum/GIPHI