The ‘Health Silk Road’, the next chapter in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, is expanding the reach of Chinese biotech firms
China’s biotechnology sector is rising as a formidable force on the international stage, with Chinese biotech firms expanding in the west, the Middle East and the Asean region, said speakers at the annual BIOHK biotechnology conference in Hong Kong in September. Tatler spoke to several of them who had addressed the event. “The Chinese biotech industry is now becoming a global force to be reckoned with. In efficiency and execution, they have demonstrated their value to the global biotech industry,” said Will Liu, managing director of Bioventures BeOne Medicines, a global oncology company. Meanwhile, Hong Kong financial secretary Paul Chan said, “The rise of China as a biotechnology leader is reshaping the global innovation landscape.
The mainland is now the world’s second-largest biopharmaceutical market. Its biotech enterprises account for nearly 30 per cent of global innovative drug assets, up from just 10 per cent in 2019.”
The global expansion of Chinese biotech firms is part of the “Health Silk Road” under the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s megaproject to forge economic links with other countries through infrastructure projects like ports and railways, as well as other sectors like biotechnology. Following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s 2013 unveiling of the initiative, he presented the Health Silk Road in June 2016, at Uzbekistan’s Supreme Assembly, where he called for the development of a “green, healthy, intelligent and peaceful Silk Road”. In January 2017, the Health Silk Road was endorsed by the World Health Organization, then led by Margaret Chan, a Hong Kong-born civil servant.
Also read: China’s Belt and Road Initiative pivots from mega infrastructure to ‘small but beautiful’ projects
The Health Silk Road is fostering China's biotech growth, impacting global markets and enhancing international partnerships in healthcare and innovation
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Anthony Davies, founding CEO of Dark Horse Consulting Group, a US cell and gene therapy consultancy, told Tatler: “In recent years, a substantial amount of western pharmaceutical licensing has been from China—a rapid increase from historical levels, indicating that China is no longer just ‘the world’s factory’ but is also becoming one of the world’s innovation centres. As the flow of pharmaceutical development between China and the west increases, Chinese biotech companies will necessarily need presences in the west.
“Dark Horse sees a rapidly growing level of interest from western companies in leveraging Chinese regulatory options in drug development. There is an increasing feeling that certain phases of development might be better executed in China than in other countries. We anticipate adopting a connector role in this regulatory arbitrage, whereby we will be able to smoothly transition drug development programmes in and out of China on behalf of both our western clients and their collaborating companies and institutions in China.”
Rose Ritts, managing partner of Black Opus Special Situations (BOSS) Group, a US technology investment firm, said: “There are some spaces where Chinese biotech companies are going to overtake the US. We have to look at these Chinese biotech companies.” Meanwhile, Cynthia Chen, chairwoman of medical device company Pulnovo Medical, said: “Innovation is no longer one-sided. It flowed from the west to the east and now it’s flowing from the east to the west. It’s very important to have a global vision.” While Pulnovo was established in the Chinese mainland, it holds patents in more than 100 countries, Chan said, adding: “We never see ourselves as a China-originated company.”
