On September 21, the 2nd China-Russia Forum on Biopharmaceutical Technologies and Business Cooperation, jointly organised by SinoPharmtech (Shanghai EDA Group) and BIO-YD (Chengdu Yingde), was held at the China Huaming Park Business Centre (Soluxe Hotel Moscow). SinoPharmtech and BIO-YD are actively engaged in the transfer of advanced biopharma technologies and provide comprehensive T+EPC engineering services for Russia and CIS countries. Special attention is paid to such development areas as blood products, human and animal vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, cell therapy and serum-free media, genetic engineering, etc.

Around 300 people attended the gala event, including representatives of the domestic biopharmaceutical industry from the Association of Russian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, the Skolkovo Innovation Centre (“Biomed“ and “Biotechnology Developments”), as well as Belarusian guests from the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus and the Republican Scientific and Practical Centre for Transfusiology and Medical Biotechnology. In addition to them, delegates from leading Chinese biopharmaceutical companies such as Pulike, Hualan, Weiguang, Celbe, Vazyme, JSBio, CDBio and Henan University spoke at the Forum.

Cai Jun, Zhu Hanjun (Sinopharmtech) and Su Xiaodong (BIO-YD), the first persons of the companies organising the Forum, made an opening speech to thank the guests for attending, and summarised and analysed the results of joint work since the 1st China-Russia Biopharmaceutical Technology and Business Cooperation Forum was held in August 2019. The event was highly appreciated by the countries’ biopharmaceutical industry stakeholders and gave impetus to accelerate the development of exchanges and cooperation in biopharmaceutical technologies.

The presentation part of the Forum started with a presentation by Ivan Taskin, Project Manager of “Biomed” Biological and Medical Technologies Cluster, who conducted a professional comparative analysis of the biopharmaceutical market in Russia and China. The conclusion of the presentation was that although there are interstate differences in such aspects as legislation and regulations, the medical and biopharmaceutical market of the two countries has broad prospects for joint development. Another Skolkovo resident, Igor Krasilnikov, CEO of “Biotechnology Developments” (“RBT”), presented to the Forum participants a technological platform for new generation vaccines against respiratory viral infections.

Han Feifei, General Manager of BIO-YD, spoke to the guests about the capabilities of the Chinese manufacturing facility to provide EPC services in the biopharmaceutical field, elaborating on process development, pharmaceutical engineering, high-tech equipment and single-use technologies, assembly, digitisation and technology validation services.

Representatives from some of the leading companies and research institutes in China’s biopharmaceutical sector made presentations, presenting cutting-edge research results and manufacturing processes in many areas:

• Weiguang – Advanced biomedical technologies based on global platforms;
• Hualan – Vaccines and genetic engineering;
• Pulike – Veterinary biological products in China;
• CDBio – Innovative vaccine development;
• JSBio – Nutrient media and cell culturing;
• Vazyme – Enzyme Technologies;
• Celbe – Large-scale cell culture technologies;
• Henan University – Perfusion Culture Technologies.

Honoured guests from Belarus also spoke at the Forum. Margarita Dosina, Head of the Science Department of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus, shared innovative developments in cell technologies and genetic engineering. Fyodor Karpenko, Director General of the Republican Scientific and Practical Centre for Transfusiology and Medical Biotechnology, spoke about the latest blood products, the production of which became possible thanks to the joint efforts of Belarus and China.

During the Roundtable section, Forum participants had the opportunity to personally interact with the speaker companies. Stakeholders discussed technology services (CDMO, technology transfer, product registration, joint venture – filling a warehouse or setting up a common production line, etc.) and product manufacturing services (production equipment, culture media, disposable consumables, gels, reagents, enzymes, etc.).

The success of the 2nd China-Russia Forum on Biopharmaceutical Technologies and Business Cooperation in 2023 has built a good communication bridge for all participants and expanded opportunities for active cooperation. With the rapid development of Chinese biopharmaceutical companies and policy support for biopharmaceutical enterprises in Russia and CIS countries to adapt to modern conditions, the China-Russia Biopharmaceutical Forum will undoubtedly become an excellent platform to promote the fruitful development of bilateral relations with China.

The 3rd China-Russia Forum on Biopharmaceutical Technologies and Business Cooperation is planned to be held in 2025.