1. Introduction

As a key area for biomedicine in Shenzhen’s 20 strategic emerging industry clusters and eight future industries (“20+8”), Pingshan District concentrates on the biomedicine, medical devices and healthcare strategic emerging industries, and the two future industries of brain science and brain-inspired intelligence, and cells and genes. China’s first and Shenzhen’s only State Biological Industrial Base boasts a total planned area of 3.29 square kilometers. After years of development, an advanced manufacturing cluster with biomedicine, medical devices (including high-end intelligent rehabilitation aids) and biotechnology as the main parts has emerged.

By the end of June 2023, Pingshan was home to 1,076 biomedicine enterprises, including 100 firms with annual main business revenue of at least 200 million yuan. Companies engaged in biomedicine include Sanofi Pasteur, Headway, Hepalink, Salubris, Hybio, Main Luck and Joincare Haibin. Medical device companies include Snibe, Edan, Antmed, Aikang, Boomingshing, Golsite and Yaneng Bio. Companies engaged in biotechnology and services include HwaGen, Gene+, Pregene and JY Med, covering all aspects of biotechnological services such as CXO (medical contract outsourced services), third-party inspections and animal models.

From January to June 2023, the output value of biomedicine and healthcare firms with annual main business revenue of at least 200 million yuan reached 10.17 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%. In 2022, the output value of firms with annual main business revenue of at least 200 million yuan was 24.58 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.9%.

2. BT Boulevard

The 3.6-kilometer-long Jinxiu East Road in Pingshan is known as BT Boulevard, which is home to more than 200 biomedicine companies, including 11 listed enterprises, such as Snibe, Edan, Daphne, Biocare, Sontu, Chipscreen, Hybio, Hepalink and Joincare Haibin. The total output value of the enterprises along BT Boulevard in 2022 was 19.8 billion yuan, accounting for 80.7% of the district’s total biomedicine output value. With 13 industrial parks along the boulevard, it is one of the most concentrated areas hosting Shenzhen’s biomedicine industry.

BT Boulevard in Pingshan District. Photo by Liu Yujie

3. Industrial spaces 

Currently, there are 16 biotechnology industrial parks in Pingshan, with a total industrial space of 1.3 million square meters. With the construction of Shenzhen Hong Kong Biomedicine Industrial Park and the Haikexing industrial park’s phases 2-3 to be completed in 2024, the total area of Pingshan’s biomedicine industrial parks will reach 4.92 million square meters in 2025.

Shenzhen Biomedicine Innovations Industrial Park (Biomedical Enterprise Accelerator Phase 1), located in the State Biological Industrial Base in Kengzi Subdistrict, is a grand biotechnology industrial park for high-growth small and medium-sized enterprises. Covering 120,000 square meters, the park can provide a total industrial space of 293,000 square meters. The first two phases of the park have been put into use and Phase 3 is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

Biomedical Enterprise Accelerator Phase 2, located in the State Biological Industrial Base in Kengzi Subdistrict, covers an area of 106,000 square meters and will provide a total industrial space of 398,200 square meters. Two-thirds of the park has been put into use and the rest construction will be completed by the end of 2023. It integrates scientific and technological innovation, industrial incubation, project development and supporting services.

The Shenzhen Hong Kong Biomedicine Industrial Park, at the intersection of Rongtian Road and Danbi Road in Kengzi Subdistrict, covers an area of 51,800 square meters and will provide an industrial area of 138,700 square meters when its construction is completed by the end of 2023. The park integrates high-quality industrial space with accommodation, production and research and development.

Zhongcheng Life Science Park, at the intersection of Linhui Road and Jinhui Road in Kengzi Subdistrict, covers an area of 27,000 square meters and has a floor area of 110,000 square meters. The park offers public biomedical labs, warehouses, wastewater treatment stations, restaurants and accommodations.

Yesun Life Health Science Park, at the intersection of Linhui Road and Huilian Road in Kengzi Subdistrict, covers an area of 32,000 square meters and has a floor area of 150,000 square meters. There are five factory buildings and one comprehensive functions building.

Shenzhen Biomedicine Innovations Industrial Park

4. Supportive policies 

As early as 2017, Pingshan has been issuing supportive policies for the biotechnology industry. For example, in medicine R&D, up to 10 million yuan can be funded in clinical trials, and up to 5 million yuan can be rewarded for enterprise R&D investment. In medicine production, companies that have obtained drug registration and production approvals for new drugs, generic drugs and imported registered drugs will respectively be rewarded 5 million yuan, 3 million yuan and 1 million yuan, and can simultaneously enjoy supportive policies from the city government. At present, Pingshan is planning industrial development, industrial spaces and supportive polices for enterprises and talents according to the city’s three new special industrial policies, to form a complementary policy supporting system.

In July 2020, Pingshan launched China’s first securitization of intellectual property product for the biomedical industry. Ten companies including Edan, Chipscreen and Main Luck raised a total of 100 million yuan. The securitization has helped enterprises expand financing channels and increase financing scale. Pingshan also focuses on government-led funds, having established 11 sub-funds of government-guided funds. The Sangel Biomedical Fund, with a management capital of 5 billion yuan, has invested in 47 high-growth enterprises in Pingshan, among which six biological enterprises, such as Ascentawits and HYKM Biopharm, have been recognized as among the top 50 high-growth enterprises in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The government-led biomedicine industry fund, with 5 billion yuan in the first phase, was launched in Pingshan on Sept. 26, 2023. As part of Shenzhen’s “20+8” industry clusters special sub-fund, the biomedicine industry fund will provide strong financial support for industrial development.

Greater Bay Area International Vaccine Innovation Center inside Shenzhen Biomedicine Innovations Industrial Park.

5. Key enterprises 

In the fields of biomedicine and medical devices, a large number of high-quality enterprises have joined together in Pingshan to form a complete industrial chain in the district. In the field of biopharmaceuticals, a tiered ecosystem has been formed with leading enterprises such as Sanofi Pasteur and Techdow as the leaders, medium-sized enterprises such as Main Luck and Joincare Haibin as the backbone, and small innovative enterprises such as Ascentawits and Pregene as the foundation. In more than 10 medical device segments such as vitro diagnostics, medical consumables, medical imaging, etc., industry leaders such as Snibe and Edan have emerged in Pingshan, presenting a complete and diversified development.

Shenzhen New Industries Biomedical Engineering Co. Ltd. (Snibe), founded in December 1995, is a leading enterprise of fully automatic chemiluminescence immunoassay instruments and supporting reagents in China. It was listed on the Growth Enterprise Market of Shenzhen Stock Exchange in May 2020, with a market value of about 60 billion yuan. Its main products include fully automatic chemiluminescence immunoassay instruments and new coronavirus antibody detection reagents.

Shenzhen Sanofi Pasteur Biological Products Co. Ltd., founded in 1996, is the first multinational vaccine company to enter China. Sanofi is a Fortune 500 company and Sanofi Pasteur China’s operational headquarters is located in Beijing. The Sanofi Pasteur Pingshan production base, put into use in 2014, is mainly engaged in imported vaccine products packaging and influenza vaccine products filling and packaging, with an annual production capacity of 25 million doses.

Shenzhen Zhonghe Headway Bio-Sci & Tech Co. Ltd., founded in 1996, is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the development and production of breath diagnostic devices and reagents with independent intellectual property. It is one of the top 10 high-tech enterprises supported by the Shenzhen Municipal Government, and a key demonstration enterprise in the National Science and Technology Achievement Promotion and Demonstration Base. The company is located in Pingshan’s high-tech industrial park, with an area of 2,000 square meters. Its factory buildings have received a national GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) certification.

A researcher works at Edan Instruments Inc. in Pingshan District. Photo by Liu Gang

Edan Instruments Inc., founded in 1995, is a leading high-tech medical device R&D and manufacturing enterprise listed April 21, 2011. Its products cover six major fields: fetal monitoring, electrocardiography, monitoring, ultrasound imaging, intelligent healthcare, and in vitro diagnostics. The main products are monitors, ECG (electrocardiogram) machines, and ultrasound diagnosis devices, among others.

Shenzhen Main Luck Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a national-level high-tech enterprise specializing in the production, R&D and sales of anticancer drugs. Its main products include small-volume injectibles, capsules, lyophilized powder injections, etc.

Joincare Haibin Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., founded April 20, 2018, is a key medicine R&D and manufacturing base under the Joincare Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. It has several production lines for inhalation preparation (inhalation solution, inhalation suspension and hormones), inhalation powder aerosol (hormones), lyophilized powder injection, and small-volume injection, etc.

Shenzhen Antmed Co. Ltd., founded in 2004, is a leading company in the domestic hyperbaric imaging industry and the only one-stop supplier of CT, MR and DSA hyperbaric imaging equipment and consumables in China. Its main products are hyperbaric syringes and invasive pressure sensors.

Sinopharm Zhijun (Shenzhen) Pingshan Pharmaceutical Co., founded in 1990, is a national high-tech enterprise integrating production, operation and R&D. It is committed to the development of modern traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and high-end chemical pharmaceutical preparations. The company currently has 58 drug production approvals, of which TCMs are focused on the fields of pediatrics, gynecology, middle-aged people and geriatrics.

Shenzhen Daphne Pharmaceutical Co., founded in 1994, is engaged in the ear, nose and throat field, with main products including nasal sprays and throat sprays.

Shenzhen Biomedicine Innovations Industrial Park. Photo by Yan Wenting, Tan Biao

6. Innovative platforms 

In biomedical and medical device innovation, the organizations in Pingshan cover all the important aspects from drug discovery, preclinical research, clinical research to registration and marketing.

The Shenzhen Bay Laboratory Pingshan Translational Medicine Center was launched in Pingshan on Aug. 6, 2019. Located in Pingshan Hi-tech Zone’s production, learning and research base, the center mainly undertakes the functions of applied basic research and scientific and technological achievements transformation, and will build two new medicine R&D platforms, two technology transformation platforms and four public service platforms, and carry out research cooperation with Princeton University and other prestigious universities.

The Shenzhen Research Institute, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, founded Oct. 30, 2020, is located in Pingshan Hi-tech Zone’s production, learning and research base. The institute uses modern scientific and technological methods to integrate academia, research and industry in TCM’s heritage, big data analysis, R&D, bio-engineering development, etc.

SUSTech Medi-X Pingshan, established in November 2020, is located in the Hepalink Biomedicine Ecological Park. The Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) can effectively bring into play its scientific and technological, talent and resource advantages, while Pingshan can use its industrial and resource advantages to transform Medi-X into a high-end key technology R&D platform for biomedicine and a top pharmaceutical innovation center for the GBA, China and the world.

Shenzhen Cell Valley Biomedical Co. Ltd., established Nov. 15, 2021, is registered in the Hepalink Biomedicine Ecological Park. It will build the largest cell factory and the largest retroviral vector production line in South China. It plans to use its strong technology and craft experience to solve related issues such as the industrialization of cellular immunotherapy products, to optimize processes, reduce costs, so that patients can be treated with CAR-T cell therapy and other modalities. It also strives to build an international first-class one-stop cell and gene therapy CRO/CDMO service platform.

Shenzhen Cell Valley Biomedical Co. Ltd. in Pingshan District. Photo from the company

The Safety Evaluation Research Laboratory, established in April 2020, is located in the Shenzhen Biomedicine Innovations Industrial Park. Relying on the excellent scientific research talents of the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the lab is establishing an international-level preclinical translational platform for medicine and medical devices, with GLP non-clinical safety evaluation translational services as its core business. Currently, qualification certification work is being carried out.

The Shenzhen Animal Resources and Technology R&D Base, relying on the Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute of Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is building a public service platform for the research, preservation and supply of standardized experimental animal models in Pingshan. The project will establish a laboratory animal resource and technology R&D base with a model animal resource platform, a comprehensive animal phenotype analysis platform and a biotechnology incubation service platform.

The Guangdong Medical Devices Quality Surveillance and Test Institute’s Shenzhen Inspection Laboratory, inaugurated Oct. 8, 2019, is located in the Shenzhen Biomedicine Innovations Industrial Park. It is the first national medical device testing organization in Pingshan District. It is currently the only national medical device testing organization in South China, and the largest food and drug packaging materials testing organization in South China. Its inspection covers electromagnetic compatibility of medical devices, medical electronic devices and medical high-frequency devices etc. It has become an important technical support platform for medical device inspection and testing in the GBA.

The National Medical Device Industry Measurement and Testing Center, built by the Shenzhen Academy of Metrology and Quality Inspection, primarily focuses on the industrial needs of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and other medical device fields. It aims to improve the measurement and testing capabilities of the entire medical device industry chain, and assists enterprises to improve their medical device quality and boost independent innovation.