Under the guidance of the Shanghai Biomedical Industry Development Leading Group, the inaugural International Biopharma Industry Week Shanghai (IBIWS) is co-hosted by Shanghai Biomedical Industry Promotion Center, E Fund Assets Management Co., Ltd., Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co., Ltd., Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Zhangjiang Group.

IBIWS 2021 is themed on "Aiming at the Future and Driving Forward the New Biopharma Industry". "Aiming at the future" embodies IBIWS' mission and vision, that is, pooling global forces to jointly build a brighter future for health. "Driving forward the New Biopharma Industry" illustrates the positioning and attributes of IBIWS, that is, helping Shanghai to build a world-class biopharma industry cluster and to turbocharge the biopharma industry in an innovative way. At the opening ceremony, top-level scientists and industry thinkers shared innovation trends and frontier findings as well as indigenous innovations and global applications in their respective fields.

The keynote speech session saw several preeminent global experts - including Boli ZHANG (recipient of the Chinese national honorary title of "People's Hero"), Michael LEVITT (Nobel laureate in chemistry in 2013), and Xiaodong WANG (member of the United States National Academy of Sciences & foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences) - introduce the latest frontier medical developments.

On the topic of industrial development, Carl June (member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, founder of CAR-T cell therapy, and professor at Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania) talked about the trends of cell therapy. Senior executives representing multinational giants delivered speeches successively. They included Mark Leung (China CEO, JPMorgan); Pascal Soriot (Global CEO, AstraZeneca); Geoff Martha (Chairman & CEO, Medtronic); Vasant Narasimhan (Global CEO, Novartis); Hong ZHOU (Executive Vice President, Merck Global Health Initiative); Gary S. Guthart (CEO, Intuitive Surgical, Inc.); and Felix Gutsche (Global Senior Vice President & China CEO, Boehringer Ingelheim). These speakers reviewed the history of technological transformations and innovations of their own companies as well as the history of globalization, particularly their companies' past stories of building platforms in China to promote sustainable cooperation. Moreover, they voiced their confidence in continuing to invest in China to boost its healthcare sector.

Representing SOEs, private companies, and the investment community respectively, Jun ZHOU (Chairman, Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co., Ltd.), Qiyu CHEN (Co-CEO, Fosun International), and Yuyin ZHAN (Chairman, E Fund Management Co., Ltd.) delivered keynote speeches successively, sharing their insights about how to capitalize on opportunities and the latest trends to further leverage the leading role of biopharma, thereby helping to build Shanghai into a globally influential heartland of biopharma innovation.

The opening ceremony also witnessed the inauguration of the Innovation Center for Frontier Biopharma Industries, the announcement of partners for the building of the world-class biopharma industry cluster, and the launch of the biopharma "Star of Tomorrow" campaign. These measures exhibited the strength and determination of Shanghai in setting industry benchmarks and identifying high-potential firms.

In the session of industry dialogue, Min XUE (Chairman, United Imaging Healthcare Group), Xin BIAN (President, Roche Group China), and Jia LI (Director, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, the Chinese Academy of Sciences), based on their practical experiences, held face-to-face discussions on the topic of the path for Shanghai to build a world-class biopharma industry cluster.

"Now is the best time to turbocharge biopharma." IBIWS 2021 will give new impetus to Shanghai and even the wider Yangtze River Delta to optimize their biopharma ecosystems, helping the region to build a world-class biopharma industry cluster. To realize this ambitious goal, the biopharma practitioners of Shanghai will make great efforts in several dimensions. Capitalizing on the foundation of the city's biopharma industry, they will strive to make breakthroughs in fields of strength, curate more innovations, develop key areas, improve ecological environment, and forge leading companies. Meanwhile, they will establish a policy support system throughout the whole industry chain featuring "R&D+Clinic+Manufacturing+Application" and continue to optimize the industrial mix of "1+5+X", thereby more effectively leading biopharma integration within the Yangtze River Delta.