Biomedical companies seek intl growth

"There is no similar therapy in the domestic market so far. The drug can be lifesaving to those drug-resistant blood cancer patients," Yang said, adding there has been only one drug treating such patients in the global market.

Twelve of the company's candidate drugs have been granted orphan drug designation by the US FDA, allowing the enterprise to become the No 1 in getting the largest number of such qualifications among Chinese peers, the company added.

"The sign of China becoming a major and strong player in biomedicine is that local biopharmaceutical enterprises are able to not only satisfy domestic patients' unmet medical needs but also secure some seats in the global market," Yang said.

Chen Kaixian, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the performance of domestic biopharmaceutical players showed to the global medical community that innovative therapies from China are accelerating to benefit patients in the country and even the world with their cutting-edge research, standardized R&D processes and high quality.

China has also shown its biomedical capability during the COVID-19 pandemic, including developing diagnostic kits and vaccines that have benefited many local and overseas individuals, hospitals and disease control authorities, the industry experts said.

Shanghai-based medical testing solutions provider 3DMed Diagnostics said a testing kit, the first to be granted market approval in China to screen individuals for both the novel coronavirus and influenza virus at once, is under active preparation to enter some overseas markets.

"Some foreign countries and regions have expressed strong interest in the product and we're preparing for its registration to access those markets," said Xiong Lei, founder and chairman of the company, which is among the top Chinese enterprises with the largest export volume of COVID-19 nucleic acid test kits and automatic testing equipment.

Industry experts said the high-speed growth of medical research results from China is a result of more than 15 years in new drug development experience, clinical trials and a deep reservoir of talent.

Mei from Antengene said he believes the young generation of talent will play a key role in China's rise in the biotech arena on the world stage as they are open-minded, receptive to new products and ideas, and internationally-oriented.

He also said the increasing capability of Chinese biopharmaceutical companies will probably bring in more medical solutions to diseases that are common in Chinese and Asians compared to people in the West.

Most drugs, if not all of them, developed over the past decades were from Western enterprises, and diseases that are common among Asians were not thoroughly studied, the experts said.

"Now the Chinese companies have the strength and it's time to change," Mei said.

He added that although some multinational companies are working on R&D programs focusing on the needs of Chinese patients, their local counterparts will have an absolute advantage in efficiency of decision-making.

Ma Jun, an expert with the Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology and director of the Harbin Blood Disease and Tumor Institute of Harbin First Hospital in Heilongjiang province, said he estimated the current explosive era of growth in the country's biomedical sector will remain for around a decade.

Such a phase may bring about homogeneous competition, he said. For example, there are dozens of PD-1 inhibitors－potential tumor therapies－being developed by local companies.

"However, homogeneous competition shouldn't be discouraged at all times as they can often bring treatment options at lower prices and ultimately benefit patients," Ma said. "For example, it used to cost hundreds of thousands of yuan to treat a child suffering from leukemia, but it has been reduced significantly thanks to the rich options of similar medical therapies."