Chongqing Targets One to Three Novel Drug Approvals a Year by 2027

Three drug clusters anchor Chongqing's biotech ambitions

Chongqing wants one to three innovative medicines approved for market launch each year by 2027, backed by three industry clusters bringing together companies, universities and research institutes. The southwest Chinese megacity, long associated with heavy industry, is seeking a larger role in discovering, developing and manufacturing new treatments.

The municipal government's 25 point policy package covers the journey from laboratory research to hospital use. Funding, tax support, shared research facilities, manufacturing services and changes to insurance access are intended to help promising medicines reach patients faster while maintaining safety standards.

Chongqing already has a milestone to build on. In 2024, Chongqing Genrix Biopharmaceutical secured approval for an injectable treatment for moderate to severe psoriasis, the city's first Class 1 innovative drug. The treatment targets IL 17A and represents a step toward stronger domestic capacity in complex biological medicines.

The city's ambitions extend beyond individual approvals. Chongqing International Biological City in Banan District is expected to attract more than 200 enterprises and exceed 150 billion yuan in industry scale by 2027. A wider collaboration with neighboring Sichuan is also intended to bring laboratory discoveries closer to clinical care.

As of November 8, 2025, these plans place Chongqing within China's broader campaign for science and technology self reliance. The national goal is to deepen domestic capabilities across drug discovery, development and manufacturing. For patients, the practical test will be whether new treatments can move through clinical testing, enter reliable production and become accessible through hospitals and insurance.

What the 25 point plan sets out

Chongqing's policy package links financial support with shared platforms for clinical research, testing and manufacturing. It also calls for coordination of data, procurement and hospital use, connecting activities that can otherwise operate separately during the development of a medicine.

The municipal government described the package as a way to address gaps in core technologies and accelerate product development. In its public notice, it stated:

Focusing on breakthroughs in core technologies for innovative drugs and accelerating product development, we will continuously optimise the industrial innovation system.

The three planned clusters are intended to pool research and development resources and support technology transfers. High quality enterprises, research institutes and universities are expected to take leading roles. Shared facilities and services would help teams move discoveries from the laboratory into clinical testing and, eventually, production.

Technology transfer means moving the knowledge and processes behind a discovery to an organization that can develop or manufacture it. In Chongqing's plan, that connection matters because discovering a promising compound and consistently producing a medicine require different facilities and skills.

The city's main commitments and recent milestones span several years:

• 2024: Chongqing Genrix Biopharmaceutical secured approval for the city's first Class 1 innovative drug, an injectable psoriasis treatment targeting IL 17A.
• Mid 2024: An industry alliance launched to pool resources, align standards and share data.
• 2025: The Sichuan and Chongqing biomedicine corridor aimed for a pipeline of more than 100 joint projects.
• 2026 to 2030: China's next five year plan, being drafted, is expected to place a strong focus on strategic technologies and health care.
• By 2027: Chongqing aims for one to three innovative drug approvals annually and three innovative drug clusters.
• By 2027: Chongqing International Biological City aims to attract more than 200 enterprises and exceed 150 billion yuan in industry scale.

A manufacturing city seeks a new role

China's next five year plan provides the national setting for Chongqing's push. Cities are developing their own roles in strategic industries: Hefei is moving into electric vehicles, Shenzhen into artificial intelligence, and Hangzhou into robotics and advanced manufacturing.

Chongqing's strategy builds on its existing manufacturing base while seeking more value from research and novel medicines. The proposed clusters are meant to connect discovery, delivery and manufacturing, rather than treating a drug approval as the end of the process.

The annual approval target gives companies and research institutions a concrete goal around which to organize development. Achieving it will require a continuing pipeline, because novel medicines take years of discovery work, several stages of clinical testing and careful expansion of production capacity.

The plan also seeks a faster route from discovery to patients. That involves more than laboratory speed: clinical evidence, manufacturing quality, hospital purchasing and payment arrangements all influence whether an approved treatment becomes part of everyday care.

Insurance and hospital access are part of the plan

Chongqing's health insurance measures aim to connect innovative drug developers with the systems that pay for and supply medicines. Health insurance departments will maintain direct communication channels with companies and guide them through national negotiations for the basic medical insurance drug catalogue.

The catalogue is central to access because insurance coverage can reduce what patients pay themselves. Medicines with strong clinical value can also be recommended for coverage under local fast track programs, giving developers another route to seek payment support.

Designated hospitals will be able to add some new medicines to their formularies according to clinical need. A formulary is the list of medicines a hospital makes available for treatment. The planned supply model would allow eligible medicines to be dispensed through both hospital pharmacies and qualified retail pharmacies, an arrangement known as the dual channel.

Electronic prescription platforms are another part of the package. Chongqing plans to use them so patients can purchase covered medicines online and have insurance settlement handled through the system. This connects the prescription, the purchase and the payment process.

Faster insurance listing can lower patient costs and encourage hospital use. Access still depends on several linked decisions: coverage negotiations, hospital formularies, supply arrangements and prices. The city's measures address each of these parts of the route from approval to treatment.

How hospital payment rules affect new treatments

Chongqing also aims to improve diagnosis related group payments, often shortened to DRG. Under this system, a hospital receives a set amount based on a patient's condition instead of billing separately for every item of care.

A fixed payment changes how hospitals budget for treatment. The city's proposed improvements seek to reward effective therapies that reduce complications or shorten hospital stays, while discouraging unnecessary spending. Hospital incentives therefore form part of the innovation policy alongside funding for research.

The policy package also calls for guidance on realistic market prices for medicines included on innovation lists. Prices help hospitals plan their budgets and give companies signals as they prepare launches and expand production.

Payment decisions must balance access with the sustainability of insurance funds and hospital spending. A medicine can have clinical value while still requiring careful decisions about its price and the circumstances in which it should be funded.

A psoriasis approval and a broader drug pipeline

Chongqing Genrix Biopharmaceutical's approved psoriasis injection targets IL 17A, a biological target involved in the treatment's approach to moderate to severe disease. The 2024 approval gave the city an example of a locally developed complex biological medicine reaching the market.

Officials highlighted the approval as progress toward stronger domestic capabilities and reduced reliance on imported advanced treatments. As a Class 1 drug, the medicine is a new compound discovered and developed in China.

In the National Medical Products Administration's classification described in the plan, Class 1 refers to a novel compound with a defined structure, proven pharmacology and clear clinical value that has not been sold anywhere in the world. Pharmacology describes how a drug acts in the body.

The status identifies novelty at the level of the medicine. Companies must provide complete evidence on chemistry, manufacturing and control, together with robust clinical data. Those requirements cover both the treatment's performance and the ability to produce it consistently, making the designation relevant to developers, investors and hospitals.

Kerun Biopharm is pursuing other treatments in Chongqing. The company reports progress on recombinant human nerve growth factor eye drops designed to support repair of corneal nerves. Recombinant production uses biotechnology to make the human protein used in the treatment.

Kerun is also advancing a recombinant carboxypeptidase G2 injection intended to reduce chemotherapy toxicity while preserving its anticancer effect. The eye drop and injection projects extend the city's pipeline into ophthalmology and oncology, fields with substantial unmet medical needs and technology platforms that have matured rapidly in China in recent years.

Chongqing's development activity includes dozens of drug candidates in clinical stages. The psoriasis approval supplies a completed milestone, while the broader pipeline will determine whether annual approvals can become a sustained pattern.

Banan District anchors the industrial expansion

Chongqing International Biological City in Banan District is an anchor for the city's life sciences activity. Local leaders describe an integrated system covering research, development, manufacturing and clinical application.

The Zhirui Bio Medical Industry Park has attracted large projects with a reported investment of 13 billion yuan, drawing in more than 130 initiatives across related fields. Across Chongqing, the pharmaceutical sector includes 15 listed companies and 271 high tech enterprises.

The industry alliance launched in mid 2024 is intended to pool resources, align standards and share data. Those tasks match the planned clusters' purpose: helping organizations work together across the stages of medicine development.

Biological City's 2027 goals, more than 200 enterprises and an industry scale exceeding 150 billion yuan, add an industrial growth target to the drug approval ambitions. Meeting both sets of goals will require research activity to connect with manufacturing and clinical use, the full chain the city is trying to build.

Sichuan collaboration connects laboratories and hospitals

Chongqing and neighboring Sichuan are developing a western biomedicine innovation corridor. Academic and clinical leaders describe a pipeline of more than 100 joint projects by 2025, aimed at turning research ideas into patient care more quickly.

Jinfeng Laboratory, described as the largest independent life sciences and health research center in western China, sits at the center of that effort. A joint key laboratory for pathology testing and diagnosis brings together specialists from leading hospitals and universities, with more than 300 experts in one network.

Pathology examines tissue to help identify and understand disease. Linking specialists across institutions allows research, diagnostic work and clinical needs to be addressed within a shared network rather than at a single laboratory or hospital.

Professor Xu Chuan, a leader at Jinfeng Laboratory and director of an oncology institute in Chengdu, expressed the intended benefit of collaboration between the two cities in a short formula:

1+1>2.

Joint projects, shared data resources and clinical trials conducted at multiple centers are the practical tools behind that ambition. They connect laboratory work with treatment settings across Sichuan and Chongqing.

AI tools seek faster diagnostic decisions

Research teams in the region report advances in artificial intelligence for detecting early lung cancer, classifying tumors and examining the tumor microenvironment using spatial multi omics data. The latter combines different types of biological information with their locations in tissue, helping researchers study a tumor and its surroundings.

A new digital slide scanning system has entered the market through Chongqing's innovation directory for intelligent medical equipment. Digital scans allow tissue slides to be examined as images, creating a foundation for computer assisted analysis.

Researchers also describe an experimental animal pathology AI system that automatically identifies tumor areas in tissue slides. They say it can reduce review time and the risk of human error.

In pilot settings, imaging during surgery that once took about an hour can be completed in roughly five minutes. Using 60 minutes for an hour, that is a reduction of about 55 minutes, or a process taking roughly one twelfth of the previous time. Faster imaging can help surgeons make decisions while an operation is under way.

Manufacturing capacity supports the research push

Porton Pharma's Changshou site illustrates the production capabilities already present in Chongqing. The site operates under good manufacturing practice, or GMP, for small molecule drug substances. GMP concerns the systems and controls needed to make medicines to consistent quality standards.

The plant has 11 workshops operating around the clock and handles production ranging from small batches to metric tons. Its technical capabilities include cryogenic operations down to minus 90 degrees Celsius, high temperature reactions, hydrogenation at pressures up to 60 bar and flow manufacturing.

These processes cover demanding forms of drug chemistry. Cryogenic operations use very low temperatures, hydrogenation involves reactions using hydrogen, and flow manufacturing moves materials through a controlled process rather than relying solely on separate batches.

The site's quality systems have passed inspections by the National Medical Products Administration, the United States Food and Drug Administration, Japan's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency.

For developers, access to manufacturing partners with this combination of scale, complex chemistry and regulatory readiness can shorten the transition from clinical proof of concept to commercial supply. It also supports technology transfers within the planned clusters, helping turn laboratory processes into consistent production.

International interest meets local development demands

Global pharmaceutical companies increasingly view China as both a source of science and a market seeking faster access to new therapies. Partnerships, local incubators and launches occurring at nearly the same time across markets have become common. Industry executives point to improvements in the business environment and the depth of local talent as reasons to expand collaboration.

Sean Shan, senior vice president of Takeda and president of Takeda China, has described China as a global innovation hub for digital health. He connects the opportunity to the country's market size, strong digital infrastructure and active technology and health care partners, saying:

We believe China has quite a unique opportunity for digital transformation.

Chongqing's equipment industry gatherings show another side of that interest. The 2025 Spring session of the China International Pharmaceutical Machinery Exposition opened in the city with 1,686 exhibitors from 24 countries and regions. It occupied all 15 halls across 180,000 square meters.

A dedicated biopharmaceutical equipment area showcased advances from more than 100 firms. Conference sessions covered synthetic biology and biomanufacturing, while buyer delegations and supplier matchmaking sessions highlighted demand for new equipment and platforms.

The event connects Chongqing with the national network linking research, production and market access. Equipment and manufacturing services are practical parts of the city's effort to turn discoveries into treatments that can be supplied reliably.

Chongqing's targets nevertheless require years of work. Companies face intense competition for experienced clinical development leaders, regulatory specialists and bioprocess engineers. They must also manage complex supply chains, protect data used in digital health and navigate export controls and investment reviews affecting international research and licensing.

Policymakers have their own coordination task: hospital payments must encourage effective treatment while limiting unnecessary spending, and pricing and reimbursement must balance patient access with financial sustainability. The next stated deadline is 2027 for the annual approval and cluster targets. Achieving them will depend on coordinated trials, strong clinical evidence, global quality standards and access to domestic and overseas markets.

What to Know

• Chongqing aims for one to three innovative drug approvals each year by 2027 and three industry clusters.
• The 25 point package combines funding, tax support, shared facilities, manufacturing services and measures for hospital access.
• Insurance plans include guidance for national catalogue negotiations, dual channel supply and electronic prescriptions.
• Chongqing Genrix Biopharmaceutical secured the city's first Class 1 innovative drug approval in 2024 for a psoriasis injection targeting IL 17A.
• Chongqing International Biological City aims for more than 200 enterprises and over 150 billion yuan in industry scale by 2027.
• The Sichuan and Chongqing corridor targets more than 100 joint projects by 2025, supported by laboratory collaboration and AI diagnostic tools.
• Existing manufacturing facilities offer complex chemistry, production at scale and experience with inspections by major regulators.
• Long development cycles, competition for talent, pricing, insurance access and quality requirements will shape progress toward the city's goals.