After seven years of construction, the "medicine valley" in Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area (BDA) has become an integrated pharmaceutical and biotechnology industrial base. Its next objective is to become a State-level "medicine valley ", where pharmaceutical research and development will be conducted.
Beijing Tongrentang Holding Co. Ltd. and Beijing Tongrentang Scientific Development Co. Ltd., two branches of the well-known company, will invest 30 million yuan respectively to establish a new medicine workshop capable of producing 1.15 billion micelles and 100 million pills, and a traditional Chinese medicine workshop. Pharmaceutical factories established under the national 863 Program to conduct research on virus genes and producing microbial medicines, bio-chemical medicines and plant medicines will also enter "medicine valley".
Chen Wenshen, Deputy Director of the BDA Management Committee, announced that to date, more than 60 pharmaceutical factories producing new medicines and bio-engineering products have settled in “medicine valley". They have invested US$410 million to conduct research on new medicines and the production of medicines and medical equipment.
Among these enterprises and research institutions, there are world-famous companies like Bayer of Germany as well as domestic star ones like Tongrentang and Juneng. The Northern Research Center for the State Human Genome Project, the Virus and Bio-Technology Research Center and the National New Medicine Security Assessment and Monitoring Center all possess the top technology in China.
Biomedicine is an industry full of potential and a pillar of Beijing's strategic development. In 2000, total production in "medicine valley" reached 1.5 billion yuan, and sales revenue reached 1.3 billion yuan, making it one of the five mainstay industries in BDA.
(People’s Daily 06/20/2001)
