China’s Biopharmaceutical Industry Advances in 14th Five-Year Plan’s First Year, Tackling Challenges with Targeted Measures

2026, the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, sees the construction of "Healthy China" enter a new phase of quality improvement under national strategic arrangements. Currently, China’s pharmaceutical industry is in a critical period of structural adjustment and transformation, and moving towards becoming a pharmaceutical power has become an industry consensus.

Focusing on issues such as improving the innovative drug payment system and strengthening original innovation and industrial transformation, many professionals have stated that the biopharmaceutical industry is an important field for nurturing new quality productive forces. It is essential to take technological innovation as the core and new quality productive forces as the starting point, base on industrial development achievements and pain points, address development bottlenecks, strengthen full-chain support, and promote comprehensive upgrading of the industrial system through technological empowerment to inject strong momentum into the construction of "Healthy China".

In recent years, China has made considerable progress in innovation in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and other fields. In the past two years, the total licensing amount of domestically developed innovative drugs to multinational enterprises has reached 135.7 billion US dollars, fully demonstrating that China’s innovative drug R&D capabilities have been globally recognized. Meanwhile, Chinese-developed new drugs account for more than 40% of pipelines in major global disease treatment areas, highlighting competitiveness in these fields.

In 2025, China’s pharmaceutical innovation achievements emerged intensively with breakthrough progress. A total of 76 innovative drugs were approved for marketing, with domestic ones accounting for over 80%. The international influence of innovative drugs continued to rise, with foreign licensing transactions exceeding 130 billion US dollars and over 100 deals concluded, including multiple major cooperation projects worth over 10 billion US dollars. The cooperation model has evolved from simple licensing to in-depth collaboration featuring joint development, risk-sharing and profit-sharing.

At present, China’s R&D pipeline of new drugs ranks second in the world. The global value of domestic innovative drugs has been widely recognized, and pharmaceutical innovation has achieved a leap from "following" to "catching up", becoming an important support for safeguarding people’s life and health. Professionals note that the 14th Five-Year Plan period is a crucial time for the biopharmaceutical industry to seize strategic heights, and strengthening full-chain support, especially improving the investment and financing system suitable for the industry’s characteristics, is of great significance for continuously nurturing new quality productive forces.

While remarkable achievements have been made in biopharmaceutical innovation, the industry still faces multiple challenges in high-quality development. There remains a large unmet clinical demand for major diseases such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and central nervous system diseases, and developing original innovative drugs with breakthrough efficacy is still challenging. The domestic innovative drug R&D ecosystem needs improvement, as most enterprises prioritize low-risk projects with existing R&D foundations, leading to neglect of drugs with real breakthrough therapeutic value.

Other challenges include the need to strengthen original innovation capacity and address prominent homogeneous competition risks; improve the innovation value return mechanism and optimize the payment system, as a stable payment system has not yet been established and commercial health insurance’s diversified supporting role has not been fully played; and enhance international competitiveness, as overseas registration, medical affairs and marketing capabilities are weak, requiring long-term accumulation. Additionally, the industry faces both domestic and external pressures, making technological innovation oriented to clinical needs imperative for upgrading to high-end and intelligent development.

To address these challenges, targeted measures have been proposed. To improve the innovation ecosystem and promote breakthrough drug R&D, efforts should be made to integrate universities, research institutes, high-level hospitals, enterprises and local governments, gather talents, capital and platforms, and promote the implementation of promising original innovation projects. Policy guidance is needed to attract patient capital and smooth the transformation of achievements.

In terms of core strategies, it is suggested to strengthen basic research, focus on major disease areas, tackle core technologies, and enhance original innovation capacity; strengthen intellectual property protection and improve standard systems; optimize the access of negotiated drugs to medical institutions without thresholds; and improve the payment system by developing commercial health insurance to form a diversified pattern of "basic medical insurance + commercial insurance".

Measures to support industrial innovation also include strengthening medical insurance fund supply, expanding the coverage of innovative drugs, establishing special channels for rare disease and children’s drugs, and optimizing the medical insurance catalog negotiation mechanism. Improving the biopharmaceutical investment and financing system involves strengthening cooperation between government and social capital, broadening listing channels, supporting mergers and acquisitions of listed pharmaceutical enterprises, and encouraging long-term special funds for medical innovation.

Enterprises are advised to strengthen original innovation, deepen international strategies, avoid homogeneous competition, and increase investment in areas with unmet clinical needs. It is also recommended to tackle cutting-edge technologies, strengthen industry-university-research integration, develop innovative drugs and high-end medical devices, empower the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine with modern technology, and optimize the innovation environment by improving approval channels and intellectual property protection.