China's 10 Ministries Issue 15th Five-Year Plan for Pharmaceutical Industry, Targeting RMB 3.5 Trillion

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission and eight other departments jointly issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for Pharmaceutical Industry Development on September 18, 2026. The plan calls for accelerating the deployment of frontier technologies and products, strengthening interdisciplinary integration and the supply of frontier technologies, and supporting joint research by pharmaceutical enterprises, universities, research institutes and medical institutions.

The plan specifies accelerating the empowerment of drug research and development by new technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, supercomputing and computational medicine; exploring new pharmaceutical and medical device production models including extreme manufacturing, space pharmaceuticals and biomanufacturing; and deepening the application of frontier technologies such as gene editing, precise molecular delivery, cell programming and regulation, advanced omics and next-generation brain-computer interfaces. The plan also proposes breakthroughs in key technologies including artificial life system synthesis, organoids and organ-on-a-chip, universal cell therapy, complex regenerative organs, integrated diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals, and xenotransplanted organs, and the cultivation of several new growth points.

By 2030, revenue of pharmaceutical enterprises above designated size will exceed RMB 3.5 trillion. Within this total, the innovative drug industry will grow at an average annual rate of more than 20%, and the number of products with global annual sales exceeding USD 1 billion will reach at least five. The number of pharmaceutical enterprises with annual revenue exceeding RMB 10 billion will reach 50, and the number of pharmaceutical industrial parks at the RMB 100 billion level will reach 20. In terms of innovation and development, the average research and development intensity of listed pharmaceutical enterprises will reach more than 10% annually, and the share of first-in-class innovative drugs in the global total will reach more than 25%.

The plan proposes that by 2030, biomedical research and development and application will remain firmly in the world's front ranks, the effectiveness of innovation-driven development will be fully released, systematic breakthroughs will be achieved in key core technologies in priority fields, the results of digital and intelligent empowerment across the entire industrial chain will be evident, and the precision medicine system will efficiently support the comprehensive prevention and treatment of major diseases. The ecosystem for coordinated factors will become increasingly mature, and the space for industrial development will continue to expand. Production and supply guarantees will be solid and strong, core competitiveness and international influence will rise substantially, and the industry will be deeply embedded in global pharmaceutical innovation and collaboration networks. The biomedical industry will accelerate its transformation into a national emerging pillar industry, continue to safeguard and enhance people's life and health, strongly support the implementation of the manufacturing powerhouse and Healthy China strategies, and contribute solid industrial strength to building a national security barrier and jointly building a global community for health.