Shanghai To Boost Pharma, Biotech

Shanghai plans to develop drugs and biotechnology into large-scaleindustries, producing goods worth 30 billion renminbi ($3.60 billion) by 2000.

The Shanghai Pharmaceutical Administration Bureau will cooperate with 100 drug firms to make products worth $1.4 billion a year, reports China Daily Business Weekly, while genetic engineering companies will produce goods worth $482 million a year by 2000. The companies will be restructured to help them compete against foreign firms.

Shanghai accounts for 9% of China's total drug output value, but its companies' ability to develop new drugs is said to be inferior to firms in Beijing, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. The city has 260 licensed drug plants, including 40 foreign-funded ventures with companies from the USA, Japan, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Germany.