New five-year plan aims to turn the sector into a pillar industry by 2030, driven by breakthroughs in technologies across critical fields
2-MIN READ2-MINXinmei ShenPublished: 4:00pm, 18 Sep 2026China has set its sights on becoming a global biomedicine powerhouse by 2030, targeting key technological breakthroughs and at least a quarter of the world’s first-in-class drugs market under a new five-year plan for the sector.
The plan sets 10 measurable targets, including requiring large pharmaceutical enterprises to generate combined revenue of no less than 3.5 trillion yuan (US$522 billion), and for the country to produce at least 50 drug makers with an annual revenue exceeding 10 billion yuan each. Sinopharm, China’s largest drug distributor, generated 575 billion yuan last year.
