Recently, six authorities including the Ministry of Science and Technology ("MOST") have jointly issued the 13th Five-Year Special Plan for the Technological Innovation in the Health Industry (the "Plan").
The Plan clearly states that the need of guaranteeing the health of the entire population during the lifetime should be seen as the core, with efforts focusing on the development of three types of products, including the innovative drugs, medical devices and heath products, the pioneer development of a new medical and healthcare service mode oriented toward characteristics of being targeted, digital, intelligent and integrated, and the formation of a number of globally competitive superior branded enterprises in the health industry, adding impetus to the innovation-based development of the health industry. In particular, in terms of major innovative drugs, the Plan sets forth that with focus on major diseases that seriously threaten the health of Chinese people, efforts will be made to make breakthroughs in ten to fifteen major core and critical technologies, independently research and develop around thirty types of new drugs with higher degree of innovation, more technological contents, broader market prospects, and independent intellectual property rights, for the purpose of enhancing the level of equipment and technologies used for drug production, boosting the competence of innovative drugs in the globe, and meeting the public's demands in drugs.