Beijing unveils blueprint for biomedical dominance by 2030

Beijing unveils blueprint for biomedical dominance by 2030

Robert Barrie

Mon, September 21, 2026 at 6:36 PM GMT+3 4 min read

The Chinese government has unveiled an ambitious five-year plan for its biomedical industry, as the country looks to cement its role as a powerhouse in the global drug innovation landscape.

In a joint notice from various ministries of government, China wants to increase its share of originally innovated drugs. By 2030, China wants to make and develop 25% of global first-in-class drugs.

President Xi Jinping has outlined a series of initiatives to achieve this and its wider target of becoming a global pharma leader. Research and development (R&D) efforts will significantly ramp up, AI and quantum computing will continue to be harnessed in drug discovery, and pharma ecosystems will be built beyond just pipelines. In total, there are 25 priority tasks across innovation capacity, research, and technology.

In an English notice, the government stated: "The plan arrives at a pivotal moment as China's pharmaceutical industry shifts rapidly from its traditional identity as a supplier of active pharmaceutical ingredients and a large consumption market toward a new phase defined by the export of innovative drugs."

All this will help the industry in China reach lofty heights. The ambition is to have an industry turning over 3.5tn yuan ($520bn) in annual revenue by 2030. This will be fuelled by some companies with annual revenues exceeding $1.5bn, with the government lobbying for 50 companies to achieve this by 2030. All companies included in the 2030 targets have an annual revenue of at least $3m.

In terms of therapies, Beijing has placed an emphasis on next-generation drugs. The notice highlighted antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), cell and gene therapies (CGTs), and CAR-T, amongst others. Vaccines were also touted as a major growth driver, with a move to newer platforms like mRNA favoured by ministerial officials.

At least five Chinese drugs should achieve global annual sales exceeding $1bn, according to the plan. The plan also has a section dedicated to traditional Chinese medicine, which it aims to industrialise via modern frameworks.

Reacting to the strategy, Citi analysts said: "At its core, the 15-year plan articulates a shift in China's pharmaceutical industry from scale-driven growth toward innovation-driven, quality-oriented development, with an explicit ambition for China to rank among world leaders by 2030. The breadth of named technology areas – innovative drugs including traditional Chinese medicine, innovative medical devices, AI-driven drug discovery, and CDMO/CRO – signals a broad-based, whole-value-chain policy push."

Expanding global presence beyond partnering

Over the past decade, China has become a popular destination for Western big pharma searching for pipeline additions. Licensing deals between US and Chinese biopharma companies hit record highs in 2024, a 280% increase from 2020, according to analysis by GlobalData, parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology.

Further GlobalData analysis has found that the top 20 deals in China since 2024 were worth a total of $85.6bn, with more than 20% of those deals occurring in H1 2026. The deals have also moved from low-cost and single-asset deals to acquisitions and higher-cost partnerships between big pharma and Chinese biotech.

This includes AstraZeneca's $18.5bn obesity deal with CSPC, which was forged in January 2026, and Bristol Myers Squibb's $15.2bn deal with Jiangsu Hengrui Pharma in May 2026.

As of the end of 2025, China had 4,751 innovative drugs in the pipeline, accounting for one third of the global total and placing it first in the world for drugs under development, the government stated.

Part of China's 2030 plan is to grow beyond that licensing role. The plan encourages international clinical trials, expanding to overseas R&D and manufacturing, cross-border technology cooperation, and participation in global pharmaceutical supply chains.

WuXi AppTec is a Chinese company that already has significant global presence, though it remains one of a few. Global expansions have also been dogged by increased scrutiny from the US towards Chinese technology.

WuXi itself was named on the Pentagon's Chinese military list in June, despite the company asserting it has no links to the People's Republic of China (PRC) military or government entity. A US judge issued a temporary injunction in August blocking the US Department of Defence's enforcement.

The biomedical sector plan was released alongside several counterparts from other industries. Biomedicine is just one area identified for strategic development, alongside integrated circuits, aerospace, low-altitude economy, new energy storage and intelligent robotics.

GlobalData Healthcare has published a new Intelligence Briefing, "The Two-Way Street: From Stocking the Pipeline to Acquiring Development Platforms, The Next Frontier for China Biopharma," following the second edition of Outsourcing in Clinical Trials & Clinical Trial Supply China (OCT & CTS China), held at the Renaissance Suzhou Hotel on 8 and 9 September 2026.

"Beijing unveils blueprint for biomedical dominance by 2030" was originally created and published by Pharmaceutical Technology, a GlobalData owned brand.