BEIJING, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese enterprises are turning their eyes on sci-tech innovation and upgrading of the health industry and the capital market is keeping a close eye on the progress of the health industry as sales of medical supplies, health and medical products grow explosively during the COVID-19 epidemic, reported Securities Daily Tuesday.
In recent years, China's health industry has maintained rapid growth. The market size of China's life and health industry currently has exceeded five trillion yuan, and is expected to hit 16 trillion yuan by 2030, said a white paper on China's health economy. However, the health industry has been developing at a low level with healthcare product and equipment as the mainstay.
The opportunity for China's life and health enterprises to overtake their international rivals lies in the frontier technology field which needs efficient R&D (research and development) and industrialization speed rather than long-term accumulation as the traditional medicine field does, said Gu Qiang, president of the Industry Research Institute of China Fortune Land Development (CFLD).
The industry researcher pointed out that the new driving force for the life and health industry can be measured by three indicators, namely high potential, high technology and high growth. High potential means large market size, high output value and production capacity and continuous policy support; high technology requires leading patent quantity and quality and strong technical industrialization capability; high growth means high compound growth rate of companies in the industry, high capital participation and the birth of unicorn companies.
"Through the three indicators, we've screened multiple top-ranked sectors including monoclonal antibodies, immunotherapy, chemical generics, molecular diagnosis and biomolecular drugs, most of which are emerging technology areas in the life and health industry," said Gu.
"On the one hand, many scientific researchers have returned to China to start businesses, bringing opportunities for industrialization of new technologies; on the other hand, the improved R&D and investment environment for domestic life and health sector has further facilitated corporate innovation," he added.
Driven by strong demands and markets, medical technology innovation becomes the development path of life and health industry, said an investment banker in the healthcare sector.
The establishment of the multi-level capital market in China, especially the establishment of the sci-tech innovation board (STAR market) and the pilot registration system, has injected capital as impetus into the life and health industry, said Fu Lichun, research director with Northeast Securities, a securities company in northeast China.
The sci-tech innovation board has guided capital to flow to the life and health sector including companies engaging in high-end medical equipment and high-value consumables, said Wang Ruiyan, a research fellow of Industry Research Institute of CFLD.
"With progress gradually made in industrial policies and capital environment, social capital will further enhance the investment enthusiasm in the life and health sector," said Wang (Edited by Gu Shanshan with Xinhua Silk Road, gushanshan.1987@163.com)
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