Thermo Fisher Collaborates with Chinese Pharma to Build a Global Ecosystem for Innovative Drug Development Driven by Proteomics

In the laboratory of a biotechnology company in Shanghai, researchers are operating a running Orbitrap Astral Zoom high-resolution mass spectrometry system, whose performance has achieved an unprecedented revolutionary leap, drastically reducing the processing time for 6,000 research samples from 1,000 days to 100 days. This is undoubtedly a disruptive breakthrough in the field of proteomics.

This has also driven the rapid development of local innovation. Against the backdrop of profound changes in the global biopharmaceutical competitive landscape, Chinese pharmaceutical companies are transitioning from a "combination of imitation and innovation" to "original innovation," with proteomics serving as the core of the post-genomic era.Driving Force, is becoming a key engine for new drug development.

As a global leader in empowering technological advancement, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. ("Thermo Fisher") has been deeply rooted in the Chinese market for over 40 years, actively supporting Chinese pharmaceutical companies in accelerating their internationalization by building an innovative ecosystem that covers the entire drug development lifecycle.

At the 2025 Shanghai International Biotechnology and Medicine Symposium (BIO-FORUM) held on October 29, Miguel Faustino, President of Thermo Fisher Scientific China, stated that the momentum, speed, and quality of China's biopharmaceutical technology development have gained global recognition. This recognition takes various forms, some reflected in the number of published papers and literature, and others in the growth of out-licensing transactions, which to some extent demonstrates regulatory authorities' acknowledgment of the development of the Chinese market. For instance, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is creating fast-track pathways for products developed in China at a faster pace, sometimes even exempting certain processes to accelerate the professionalization of drugs and their speed to market.

"China's biotech companies are entering a golden age of opportunity, with access to high-quality innovative molecules on one hand and strong global market demand on the other. The next challenge lies in how to achieve supply-demand alignment," noted Fang Mingjie. The current challenge is ensuring that the supply of innovative, high-quality molecules meets market demands. Particularly, given the extremely complex and ever-changing global regulatory environment, multinational pharmaceutical companies seeking to license these molecules all require solutions that meet global standards to advance these molecules toward commercialization. In this process, quality control, active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) selection, contract research organization (CRO) services, data management, and the choice of contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) are all critical. The top priority is ensuring that molecular drugs comply with global standards. International pharmaceutical companies aim to mitigate subsequent risks through these measures.

This is exactly the direction in which Thermo Fisher Scientific is focusing its efforts. "With decades of experience, we have set industry benchmarks at every link of the entire value chain, covering the whole process from R&D tools, process optimization, consumables and services, clinical trial design and support, to commercial production," said Mingjie Fang.

New Frontiers in Drug Development

In the post-genomics era, proteomics is becoming one of the core driving forces in life science and biomedical research.

With the completion of whole-genome sequencing, scientists have gradually shifted their focus to the proteome – the ultimate executor of biological functions. Proteomics technology can be applied not only in basic scientific research but also holds great potential for applications in drug development, clinical medicine, and translational medicine research.

Currently, according to market data analysis by Frost & Sullivan, the global proteomics technical services market size has expanded from US$1.7 billion in 2016 to US$3 billion in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate of 14.7% during this period. It is expected to reach US$5.2 billion by 2023. This growth rate is projected to remain at a similar level in the future. The proteomics market has also formed a complete industrial chain: upstream includes mass spectrometry equipment and proteomics reagent suppliers such as Thermo Fisher Scientific; midstream consists of proteomics technical service companies; downstream comprises end users of technical services, including universities, research institutes, hospitals, and biopharmaceutical enterprises.

The rapid development in the field of proteomics and the industry insights it brings urgently require more tools to provide stronger support. For example, proteomics can be applied in early disease diagnosis, patient prognosis evaluation, monitoring treatment efficacy during the therapeutic process, and biomarker discovery in drug development. These aspects work together to drive the continuous advancement of precision medicine. Overall, this technology covers multiple aspects including diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring throughout the entire treatment process.

Fang Mingjie introduced that China's pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are developing rapidly, with numerous clients simultaneously researching and developing various molecular drugs. The number of new molecular drugs, clinical trials, drug approvals, and process design for manufacturing continues to rise — bringing both challenges and opportunities for clients and their suppliers, especially against the backdrop of the growing importance of innovative molecular drugs. Thermo Fisher Scientific has been deeply rooted in China for over 40 years, and its annual global R&D investment exceeds $1.4 billion, which is the lifeline of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s innovation.

To address the pain points in drug research and development innovation, Thermo Fisher Scientific provides multiple solutions from various dimensions. Firstly, it offers cutting-edge technical tools to resolve early-stage R&D challenges. By leveraging proteomics technologies (such as the previously mentioned Orbitrap series high-resolution mass spectrometers) and cryo-electron microscopy (Krios 5), it accelerates the structural analysis and functional validation of biomolecules like proteins and antibodies, assisting researchers in quickly identifying potential drug targets.

Secondly, ensure data reliability and security: Provide reagents and laboratory equipment that meet global GMP standards to prevent sample contamination and data deviation; at the same time, use compliant data management tools (such as the Preclarus™ database) to reduce data variability in early-stage research and development, ensuring compliance with FDA, NMPA, and other regulatory requirements, laying a solid foundation for subsequent clinical submissions. Thermo Fisher Scientific's database can reduce data variability by 80% and supports customized testing.

Third, optimize end-to-end service processes to reduce R&D risks: By leveraging the "Accelerator TM Drug Development Platform" to integrate CDMO and CRO services, customers can receive full-process support from drug development to commercialization without interfacing with multiple suppliers. This model effectively enhances development efficiency while reducing communication costs and compliance risks.

Fourth, collaborate globally to enhance the globalization adaptability of early-stage R&D. With an in-depth understanding of global regulations (FDA, EMA, NMPA), provide early-stage R&D solutions that align with multi-regional standards (e.g., preclinical data formats, reagent compliance certification) to ensure early-stage data can be used for global multi-regional clinical trial applications, avoiding redundant studies.

"Our multi-regional clinical trial (MRCT) network covers 132 countries, with over 250 trial sites in more than 20 countries, enabling cross-border trial coordination. In the past five years, we have conducted over 4,200 clinical trials through this network, helping more than 660 drugs gain global approval," said Mingjie Fang.

From Original Innovation to Global Implementation

In the field of drug development, Thermo Fisher Scientific is actively building a deeply integrated "ecosystem" model. By collaborating with CRO/CDMO, start-ups, and top research institutes, it systematically lowers the threshold for research and development.

In recent years, Thermo Fisher Scientific has been actively engaging in research collaborations with relevant institutions in China: it has not only reached cooperation agreements in fields such as advanced diagnostics, organoids, and cell and gene therapy with the Ruijin Hospital Yangtze River Delta Health Research Institute, but also co-established the "Joint Laboratory for Protein Dynamics Analysis" with the National Facility for Protein Science (Shanghai) at the Shanghai Advanced Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. These collaborations are dedicated to integrating globally leading technology platforms with cutting-edge research capabilities in China to explore innovative targets from the source.

Against the backdrop of China's biopharmaceutical industry going global, Thermo Fisher’s global experience is transforming into an accelerator for innovation in Chinese pharmaceutical companies. Fang Mingjie pointed out that the multi-regional clinical trial (MRCT) network of Thermo Fisher Scientific PPD, combined with a production network that meets global compliance standards, ensures clients can smoothly navigate regulatory differences across regions, providing dual support of "cross-regional + extensive experience" for global clinical trials. With a comprehensive understanding of regional regulatory requirements and a global presence, Thermo Fisher helps its Chinese clients achieve global success. This support expedites product launches, reduces failure rates by avoiding common risks, while ensuring supply chain reliability.

Fang Mingjie mentioned that innovative pharmaceutical companies "going overseas" may face many challenges: on the one hand, companies have to deal with more problems, take greater risks, and invest substantial funds in the process. From the perspective of corporate cost burden, this burden is quite heavy; on the other hand, companies also need to be aware that the regulatory environment in foreign markets differs from that in China and that foreign regulatory environments will continue to change over time. Therefore, if Chinese biotechnology companies plan to go overseas, they need to consider related difficulties and potential challenges in advance.

"In our communication with many partners and clients, we have drawn numerous lessons from their 'going global' experiences. Among them, strategic decisions made early on are crucial, as these decisions will have significant impacts years later. Fang Mingjie gave examples, such as decisions made three to five years ago regarding raw material selection, clinical trial data-related decisions, etc. If the wrong partner was chosen at that time, or if there was insufficient investment in a certain area, three to five years later, the impact of those decisions during licensing negotiations could lead to a full-blown outbreak of problems. If a company truly intends to embark on the 'going global' journey, it often needs to adopt a mindset that tolerates errors and consider all related matters in advance."

In recent years, through the acquisition of PPD and Patheon, Thermo Fisher Scientific has integrated CRO and CDMO capabilities, providing comprehensive support for the global development of biotech companies.

Indeed, whether in terms of technology, differentiation advantages, or global operational capabilities, biotech companies in any region around the world must excel exceptionally in these two aspects to sustain long-term growth.

"With the combined capabilities of PPD's CRO and Patheon's CDMO, we have supported more than 4,200 clinical trials worldwide, collaborating with the top 50 global pharmaceutical giants and over 2,700 biotech companies. Regardless of company size, we hope to leverage this unique experience to help Chinese biotech companies bring their self-developed drugs to the global market," said Mingjie Fang.

Rooted in China, Serving the World

While helping Chinese innovations go global, localization is also a core strategy for Thermo Fisher Scientific in China.

Public information shows that Thermo Fisher Scientific currently employs nearly 7,000 people in China, with 7 production bases, as well as 2 research and development centers and application development centers. This scale enables Thermo Fisher Scientific to stay closer to its customers and respond quickly to market changes. Notably, the new manufacturing base in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is one of the key components of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s localization strategy. Products and instruments featuring some of the company's cutting-edge technologies are being manufactured there, which not only enhances supply chain efficiency but also meets customers' customized product needs. Since 2020, Thermo Fisher Scientific has invested approximately 100 million U.S. dollars in China to enhance local R&D and production capabilities.

In addition, Thermo Fisher Scientific has also been actively carrying out innovative activities locally. In the past five years, it has submitted more than 80 patent applications in China. Specifically, in terms of products, according to domestic instrument standards, Thermo Fisher Scientific has achieved localized production of some instruments, covering high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultra-low temperature refrigerators, centrifuges, and culture media, etc. Recently, Thermo Fisher Scientific has also initiated the localization process of its industry-leading Thermo Fisher FTIR Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer, which is a typical example of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s continuous attention and evaluation of subsequent localization directions.

When talking about expectations for the Chinese market, Fang Mingjie pointed out that China's speed of innovation is truly astonishing. A few years ago, when evaluating industry pipelines, China's biotech sector was mostly still regarded as an imitative or fast-follower field. However, things have changed dramatically since then. Currently, the dynamics of innovative drug development pipelines and market trends for popular targets show that the pace of development in innovative molecule pipelines is remarkable. Moreover, according to industry analysis reports, this trend is expected to continue in the future.

Fang Mingjie further pointed out that there are three main reasons for multinational companies' strong interest in China's innovative molecules: First, in terms of quality, the quality of China's innovative drugs has been improving significantly, which is reflected not only in the quality of the molecules themselves but also in the relevant data supporting those molecules. Second, from the perspective of innovation development and R&D speed, Thermo Fisher Scientific has been cooperating in the Chinese market for over 20 years and has long been accustomed to the "China speed." This speed is particularly evident in the R&D cycle and is highly competitive on a global scale. From the cost perspective, it is important to push forward rapidly while maintaining cost control; at the same time, efficiency should be improved without compromising quality standards.

"It is precisely because of high quality, rapid speed, and low cost that China's biotech companies have been able to make a name for themselves on the global stage and fully realize their potential. Over the past few decades, many international pharmaceutical companies have also come to know numerous Chinese biotechnology firms in this way." Fang Mingjie emphasized that, from Thermo Fisher Scientific’s perspective, the timing could not be better. Thermo Fisher Scientific will fully support its customers in implementing their vision and development concepts, promoting innovative molecules to benefit patients worldwide.

Driven by both policy support and market demand, the development of innovative drugs in China has moved from the technology accumulation stage to an inflection point of explosive growth. As proposed in the "15th Five-Year Plan" recommendations, forward-looking layouts in future industries will be made, promoting bio-manufacturing, brain-computer interfaces, and others as new economic growth points. The plan explicitly states that a new national system will be improved, extraordinary measures will be adopted, and core technology breakthroughs in key areas such as bio-manufacturing will be pushed across the entire chain. This deployment closely ties pharmaceutical industry upgrades with the optimization of China’s economic structure, driving the industry towards high-quality development.

Empowered by global technology partners such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, Chinese pharmaceutical companies are gradually becoming global innovation leaders. From fundamental research in proteomics to the global application of innovative drugs, an accelerated full-industry chain covering "from laboratory to patient" has been established, enabling Chinese innovative drugs to cross borders and allowing patients worldwide to benefit from China's medical innovations.