(Yicai) Jan. 15 -- Several members of the 14th Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference suggested fostering innovation and accelerating the internationalization of the city's biopharmaceutical industry, one of its three leading sectors.

Pioneering innovation from scratch involves risk management, funding sources, and investment mechanisms, Chen Qiyu, a CPPCC member and co-chief executive of conglomerate Fosun International, said on the opening day of the meeting of the city's top legislative and political advisory bodies.

Shanghai should allocate more resources to the biopharmaceutical fund of funds to support early-phase exploration in the industry, Chen noted. Such a mechanism could enable companies to adopt a combination of strategies during the early exploratory stage and improve the success rate of innovation, he added.

Shanghai proposed promoting the internationalization of the biopharma sector last July and released a four-year plan to enhance relevant companies' international competitiveness in October.

As a national medical center, Shanghai has a solid stem cell therapy foundation, noted Zhang Yi, a standing member of the CPPCC Shanghai Committee and chairman of China Stem Cell Group Shanghai Biotechnology. Strengthening this technology requires aligning with international standards, rules, and pricing mechanisms to enable "the latest biopharmaceutical tech to go global and be commercially viable," boosting the economic engine of the new era, he pointed out.

Innovative drugs must clear four major hurdles to enter clinical use: inclusion in medical insurance, hospital procurement, the willingness of doctors to use, and affordability for patients, said Yao Jinren, another standing member of the CPPCC Shanghai Committee. The payment standards and pricing system for innovative drugs should be separated in medical insurance, he added.

Reasonable returns for drug developers should be ensured to support sustainable innovation, while multiple payment methods, including contributions from commercial insurance and other social supporting mechanisms, in addition to the medical insurance fund, could collectively cover the cost of innovative drugs, Yao noted. The approach aims to resolve the "impossible triangle" of balancing the need to meet reasonable drug demand, affordability for individuals and the insurance fund, and rewarding pharmaceutical firms' investments in innovation, he said.

Editor: Martin Kadiev