(CFP Photo)

The Yangtze River Delta, consisting of Shanghai and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, has become a vibrant powerhouse of biopharmaceutical industries.

As of October 2022, the delta region was home to nearly half of China's enterprises specialized in biotechnology and pharmaceutical fields. In 2021, the region added 100 pharmaceutical companies, a year-on-year growth of 16.28%, and this accounted for 59.52% of the total nationwide.

Shanghai took the lead in the delta with the largest number of biomedical firms, accounting for 40.43% of the region's total.

Jiangsu secured second place, led by Suzhou and Nanjing. In particular, Suzhou Industrial Park has gathered more than 2,000 biopharmaceutical enterprises, which achieved an output value of more than 100 billion yuan in 2021, making biopharmaceutical the largest sector in the city.

Shanghai enjoyed significant advantages in talents, research institutes, R&D centers, experimental devices, clinical resources, pro-innovation platforms and international connections.

Jiangsu stood out mainly for its nation-leading manufacturing strengths, and local characteristics in Suzhou, Nanjing, Taizhou and Lianyungang.

Zhejiang had made more progress in combining production with the digital technologies, such as the solid industrial base integrating Big Data, artificial intelligence and biomedicine.

Anhui's advantages lie in the booming traditional Chinese medicine industry and has the largest regional sales center for pharmaceuticals in China.