Northeast China's Jilin province will experience an "industrial boom" driven by the country's initiative to promote innovation and upgrade industry, officials said.

Jiang Youwei, vice-governor of Jilin, said that innovation and upgraded technologies will help drive growth in sectors such as biopharmaceuticals and e-commerce, which will also help create more jobs.

By 2020, Jilin aims to develop its biopharmaceutical industry to reach a market value of 530 billion yuan ($81.5 billion), accounting for 7 percent of the total GDP of the province.

To reach that goal, the sector will need to put more effort into innovation and form large-scale enterprises, said Jin Lei, general manager of GeneScience Pharmaceuticals Co.

The Changchun-based company's revenue hit 1.1 billion yuan last year.

Jin said the company, which specializes in the production of drugs to treat growth hormone deficiency, puts 10 percent of its total sales revenue each year into research and development, which has helped the company maintain steady growth for 15 consecutive years.

By 2015, its payroll increased from 1,200 to 1,650. And the company plans to add another 260 employees this year as its products are expanding to help deal with diseases such as diabetes and gout.

The company invented seven genetic engineering pharmaceutical drugs, filling the gaps in the domestic market. And it made significant progresses in helping children overcome problems related to growth hormone deficiency, and improving the treatment of short stature children in China.

In 1998, GenSci launched the first recombinant human growth hormone for injection in China. Before, the domestic market of human growth hormone was dominated by imported products.

In the next five years, the company profit growth from growth hormone revenue is expected to reach more than 3 billion yuan, Jin said.

Contact the writers at lvchang@chinadaily.com.cn and liumingtai@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/05/2016 page14)