Biopharmaceutical innovation marks achievements

China has achieved remarkable strides in biopharmaceutical innovation in recent years to better safeguard the health of its people, a member of the country's top political advisory body said on Tuesday.

Last year, the nation approved 48 novel drugs and 65 innovative medical devices, with the number of novel medicines in the pipeline also ranking the second highest globally, according to figures shared by Zhao Hong, a member of the National Committee of the 14th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Zhao is also chief physician at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences' Cancer Hospital.

"As a doctor working on the frontline, my deepest feeling in recent years is that we doctors have caught up with a remarkable era of China's biopharmaceutical innovation," he said.

Zhao said that he has led or participated in over a dozen clinical studies in recent years, including one involving a patient suffering from late-stage liver cancer with an estimated survival period of several months.

"Fortunately, he joined a clinical trial featuring a homegrown, targeted, combination immunotherapy drug and experienced a miraculous recovery. His lung metastasis vanished, the liver tumor shrank significantly, and we eventually carried out successful surgery on him," he said.

Zhao said that the patient has been living cancer-free for over four years and the treatment regime used on the patient has received market approval and emerged as a standard, first-line treatment for advanced liver cancer.

Zhao also said that a little-known Chinese enterprise has created a novel drug that outperforms its best-selling global counterpart.

Similarly, a growing array of domestically developed immune cell therapy drugs have made significant inroads into the global market and homegrown medical devices, such as surgical robots and artificial hearts, have been making an impact, he said.

"China has transitioned from imitation to innovation in the biopharmaceutical realm and boosted its prowess, with a promising trajectory ahead," Zhao said.