The Life and Health City of Liangjiang New Area. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

The 2023 Chinese Medicinal Chemistry Symposium was held in the Liangjiang New Area of Southwest China's Chongqing municipality on Oct 8-10. It is themed on "Original New Drug Development and New Drug Synthesis Technology" and demonstrates China's latest medicinal chemistry technologies and products.

The life and health industry is one of Liangjiang's three pillar industries. The new area is currently giving full play to its chain chief system to build three industrial clusters – medical equipment, biological products and chemical preparations, and three emerging sectors – new traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), new medical services and new healthcare, which form a 3+3 industrial system.

The Chongqing Liangjiang Coordinative Zone. [Photo/liangjiang.gov.cn]

From January to August this year, the industrial output of the healthcare sector above a designated size in the new area grew by 22.8 percent year-on-year.

Liangjiang's first healthcare industrial fund is worth 500 million yuan ($69.65 million) and another industry guidance fund will be put in place soon.

For research and development, clinical trials, production, registration, and market circulation, Liangjiang has established institutions such as the Chongqing Medical Device Quality Inspection Center, Chongqing Institute for Food and Drug Control, and Chongqing Customs Technology Center, and has brought in a number of third-party service platforms.

China's new drug research is currently at a critical stage, transforming from medical imitation to original innovation. In March, the Chongqing Innovative Research Institute of the China Pharmaceutical University was unveiled by the new area and the university, focusing on metabolic diseases, tumors, and autoimmune diseases and committed to the R&D and industrialization of new drugs and high-end formulations.