Government News
Shanghai draws strong UK interest at London Life Sciences Week 2025-11-23
Shanghai’s thriving life sciences ecosystem is gaining increasing international attention, and many British companies are looking for ways to work with the city, according to attendees at the London Life Sciences Week.
During the weeklong event that ends last Friday, Yicai’s reporters noted that “China” and “Shanghai” were among the most frequently mentioned terms.
Shanghai’s delegation, led by the city’s commerce and science and technology commissions and including several biopharma firms, held a Shanghai Biomedicine Promotion Conference at the invitation of London & Partners and MedCity.
London & Partners is the UK capital's growth and destination agency, while MedCity is a part of it that specifically works to support and grow London's life sciences sector.
The trade in goods between Shanghai and the United Kingdom approached CNY97.5 billion (USD13.7 billion) last year, Zhou Lan, deputy director of the Chinese city’s commerce commission, said at the conference.
More than two-thirds of UK companies in China have their local headquarters in Shanghai, Zhou noted. The city’s “five-center” strategy -- building hubs in economy, finance, trade, shipping, and tech innovation -- has helped it attract top talent, Zhou said, including nearly half of the China’s fifth-generation network technology experts, 40 percent of its microchip specialists, and a third of its artificial intelligence professionals.
Global life sciences rankings now place Shanghai in the top 10, said Ivana Poparic, head of cluster development at MedCity, noting that the city is transitioning from a manufacturing base to a center for frontier innovation.
She sees strong synergies between London’s research and incubation strengths and Shanghai’s extensive capacity and clinical resources. British companies are very keen, she said, and the two sides are discussing efficient pathways for market access.
MedCity is working with the Shanghai authorities and the UK’s business and trade department to streamline market entry processes for British firms, including establishing offices and research and development centers, and promoting clinical trial partnerships.
China’s drug R&D is fast and cost efficient, said Ryan Geiser, co-founder and chief executive of biotech startup Axiom Therapeutics. Given the highly internationalized character of the global pharmaceutical supply chain, collaborating with Shanghai is a natural choice, he said.
The London-based firm, which uses computational chemistry and AI to develop covalent drugs, already works with Shanghai-based contract research organizations on some drug testing. Geiser said Axiom is evaluating expanding its Shanghai footprint, possibly by setting up a wet lab and hiring local scientists, to speed up its end-to-end drug design and validation cycle.
Source: Yicai Global
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