Global pharmaceutical giants Roche and GE Healthcare, among the first foreign companies to venture into Shanghai’s Pudong New Area, recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of their establishment in Pudong and decided to step up their investments in the area to prepare for the next 30 years of development.

GE Healthcare will invest 380 million yuan ($52.44 million) in various initiatives, including new product introductions and digital transformation, while Roche aims to strengthen its pharmaceutical value chain and expand collaborations with local innovators.

The decision to deepen their involvement in Pudong reflects a confidence in China's business environment and growth potential. Pudong has become a hub for over 3,900 biomedical enterprises, including 750 foreign-funded companies, fostering innovation and research.

30 years on, unwavering investment and innovation in Pudong

In 1994, Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals Ltd became the first multinational company in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, Pudong. It was also the first enterprise in the biopharmaceutical sector in Pudong and the first foreign-funded project in Zhangjiang.

That same year, GE Healthcare established the GE Healthcare Diagnostic Pharmaceuticals Shanghai Production Base in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park. This move paved the way for comprehensive localization of diagnostic pharmaceuticals, serving a global clientele.

Initially faced with farmland upon arrival in Pudong, they had to build everything from scratch. However, the subsequent development in Pudong exceeded anything they could have imagined.

In 2009, the Roche Shanghai Research Center was established; a decade later, Roche made an additional investment of 863 million yuan to upgrade the research center to the new Roche Shanghai Innovation Center, which later evolved into the Roche China Innovation Center.

Several drug molecules discovered here entered global clinical development, catering not only to the Chinese market but also serving Europe and the United States. Just last year, Roche inaugurated an accelerator with an investment of nearly 300 million yuan in Pudong.

Similarly, the GE Healthcare Diagnostic Pharmaceuticals Shanghai Production Base has undergone continuous transformation over the past 30 years, becoming not only one of GE Healthcare's largest medical contrast agent production bases globally but also China's largest supplier of contrast agent raw materials and one of the largest non-ionic contrast agent manufacturers, ranking at the top of the list of medical export enterprises in China for several years.

The initial multinational corporations that set up operations in Pudong became significant participants, witnesses, and beneficiaries of Pudong's development and openness. They paved the way for a sustainable development path, aligning international multinational companies with China's goals.

Roche, the first multinational enterprise in Pudong and one of the earliest foreign pharmaceutical companies to establish a research center in China, has been continuously increasing its investment.

Today, the Roche China Innovation Center holds independent decision-making power for new drug research and early development, covering innovative drug development in the fields of immunology, oncology, and metabolic diseases, continually developing innovative drugs for patients.

By the end of 2023, over 300 invention patents had been granted thanks to work done at the Innovation Center, with more than half already granted patent authorization in China, the United States, the European Union, or Japan.

"Thirty years ago, when Roche arrived in Pudong, there was nothing but farmland, but today there is a complete pharmaceutical value chain," said Bian Xin, CEO of Roche Pharma China.

"In February this year, one of our new drugs, Crovalimab Injection, was approved for market launch, achieving the 'China debut' ahead of Europe and the United States. These accelerated achievements are thanks to the reform of the national drug approval system, providing Roche with the confidence to explore more innovative models."

The decision of foreign enterprises to operate and invest in Pudong largely stems from their confidence in China's continuously improving business environment and increasing level of openness.

The rapid development of the GE Healthcare Shanghai base has been closely tied to the consistent backing of China's business environment and policies. For instance, in 1996, just two years after GE Healthcare Shanghai base set up operations in Zhangjiang, it launched the first contrast agent for CT enhanced scanning in China and achieved the localization of this product in 2000.

"Last year, the contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging, Clariscan, launched in China and achieved localization within a year, setting a new pace for domestic production. We are also enhancing the core competitiveness of the Chinese team in GE Healthcare and leveraging the Chinese supply chain, business environment, etc., to stimulate more collaborative research and innovation in the medical diagnostic pharmaceutical field to ultimately achieve localization," said Zhang Yihao, CEO of GE Healthcare China.

Towards the future, achieving mutual success with Pudong

The influx of a large number of foreign investments in Pudong has optimized the industrial landscape, particularly in the biomedical sector. According to the Pudong New Area Science and Technology Commission, after over 30 years of development, Pudong has gathered more than 3,900 biomedical enterprises, including 750 foreign-funded enterprises, making it one of the most ecologically sound, talent-rich, and innovative regions in the domestic biomedical industry chain. The area has yielded many fruitful results, with four to five independently developed innovative drugs launched annually in recent years, and over 70 medical device products approved.

As the leader of China's reform and opening-up efforts, Pudong is vigorously developing high-tech enterprises, its headquarters economy, and research and development centers. These efforts have solidified the commitment of the first wave of multinational enterprises to establish a presence in the area.

After the completion of the largest and most comprehensive innovation entity, the "Shanghai Innovation Center", in Zhangjiang, Pudong last year, GE Healthcare recently announced the signing of an investment cooperation memorandum with the Shanghai Pudong New Area Science and Technology Commission, committing an additional investment of 380 million yuan for cooperation in various areas such as new product introduction, new production line construction, factory green upgrade, intelligent manufacturing, and digital transformation.

"We will cooperate with Pudong in various areas such as new product introduction, new production line construction, green factory upgrades, intelligent manufacturing, and digital transformation to empower the development of new medical quality productivity," said Zhang.

The day after GE Healthcare announced this significant partnership, Roche Pharmaceuticals, which now has 28 products in China covering eight major treatment areas, also declared its intention to continue increasing investment in China to strengthen the end-to-end complete pharmaceutical value chain.

Over the past two years, Roche has reached global exclusive licensing agreements with three local innovative pharmaceutical companies to jointly develop multiple innovative therapeutic drugs in the field of oncology. Padraic Ward, head of Pharma International at Roche, stated that leveraging China's vast market scale, economic size, and innovative ecosystem, Roche will accelerate innovation and strengthen its layout in China.

Drawn by the burgeoning opportunities of Pudong's development and Shanghai's "Focus on Zhangjiang" strategy, Roche, GE Healthcare and other multinational enterprises chose Pudong's Zhangjiang 30 years ago. In the new era, they have consistently viewed the area as a pivotal cornerstone in their global strategies.

From China's first free trade zone to the innovative Zhangjiang Science City, each national strategic initiative underscores Pudong's role as an experimental ground where new policies signal a commitment to deeper reforms and increased openness. Serving as both the driving force and stabilizing factor of Shanghai's economy, Pudong is actively enhancing its reform systems, catalyzing a new era of high-quality development, and establishing a cohesive chain of innovation, industry, talent, and supply.

Over the next 30 years, Roche Pharmaceuticals will focus on "bringing Chinese innovation to the world". For example, the Roche China Accelerator launched in Pudong now has over 10 local innovative enterprise members. Existing member enterprises have engaged in over 10 early-stage research collaborations with the Roche China Innovation Center, jointly exploring new scientific directions and technological platforms.

"We see a thriving biomedical innovation ecosystem in Pudong, and we have established long-term partnerships with many innovative drug companies. Their globally-competitive innovations are gradually entering the international arena. Additionally, we also collaborate with top Chinese hospital clinical trial institutions to expedite the development of Roche's drug molecules in China," said Dr. Shen Hong, Head of Roche China Innovation Center. "Looking ahead, we will continue to make Roche China Innovation Center a globally competitive and influential, powerful, unique engine for new drug development as early as possible."

As established companies continue to expand their investments in Pudong, new entrants gather in the area to seize emerging opportunities.

This year, the UK medical and pharmaceutical services group Clinigen chose to establish its first wholly-owned subsidiary in the Chinese mainland - Shanghai Connigen Trading Co Ltd. Over the past three years, the company has provided licensed drug services to patients in 128 countries worldwide, covering over 1,500 innovative drugs.  

Clinigen located the subsidiary in Pudong’s Waigaoqiao Bonded Area, hoping to leverage Pudong's rich trade model, utilize the policy functions of the free trade zone and customs special supervision areas such as customs facilitation, investment management, cross-border investment and financing, and use the global resources of the parent company to create a global full-life-cycle drug service platform connecting both domestic and foreign markets.

Foreign enterprises that have been engaged with Pudong New Area for three decades are now deepening their involvement in local innovation, industry, talent, and supply, realizing a vision of collaborative research and innovation in China.