Huishan Economic and Technological Development Zone in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, is bolstering the development of cell and gene therapy (CGT) — one of the most disruptive technologies in the biopharmaceutical field. (Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn)

The prefecture-level city of Wuxi, an economic hub in Jiangsu province, is bolstering the development of cell and gene therapy (CGT), dubbed the "third drug revolution" after small-molecule drugs and antibody drugs, and one of the most disruptive technologies in the biopharmaceutical field.

Leveraging its advantage in the life and health industries, Huishan Economic and Technological Development Zone has strengthened the introduction of top-tier talent and projects, building a full-cycle capital matrix to offer financial help.

Wang Kai, deputy director of the zone's bureau of science, technology and industrial development, said a number of innovative achievements are emerging in the zone. Simbmann Biotech's "AlloJoin" and "ReJoin" are now in Phase III and Phase II clinical trials, respectively, which are expected to fill the gap in domestic stem cell products for treating knee osteoarthritis.

Biogene focuses on innovative pipeline R&D for glaucoma and HPV infection, consolidating its frontier R&D layout in gene therapy, while Genetalks deeply cultivates cancer genetic testing, leading the development of Wuxi's precision medicine and smart healthcare industry chain.

Housing over 10 CGT enterprises covering immune cell therapy and genetic diagnosis, the zone has created an optimal cultivation environment, providing them with a fast growth channel across all stages from early R&D to commercialization, Wang said.

As early as 2018, Shi Yufang, a pioneer in stem cell and immune research and an academician at the European Academy of Sciences, founded Wuxi Huatai Innovative Drug Research Institute in the zone. Its top executive said that in its early days, the research team received help from the zone to obtain tens of millions of yuan in funding support which promoted the rapid progress of research projects.

Gerry Melino, a director from the University of Rome Tor Vergata and an academician at the Italian and European academies of sciences, came to the zone while Shi Fudong, an academician at the European Academy of Sciences and a neuroimmunology expert, set up Taizhen Biotech.

As the CGT industry features heavy assets, expensive equipment and high barriers, Wang said the zone introduced WX ATU, formerly under WuXi AppTec, to build a one-stop CTDMO service platform integrating R&D, production, testing and regulatory filing, realizing the progression from clinical samples to commercial supply.

The zone also invested hundreds of millions of yuan to build a large public instrument platform, equipped with nearly 170 high-end experimental devices. Small and micro startup companies and project teams can share hardware resources upon entering the zone, which provides more than 20,000 professional technical services each year, effectively reducing their early-stage R&D investment.

To enable research teams to focus on scientific and technological breakthroughs, Wang said the zone can serve as agents for high-end talent. It helped PluriSelect, a US company focusing on cell and protein separation systems, to complete the registration and establishment of Wuxi PluriSelect Technology Co Ltd in just two days, prompting repeated praise from its foreign investor.

Wang stressed that as developing CGT relies not only on technological iteration and breakthroughs, but also on capital support, the zone has used a full-cycle industrial fund matrix to offer long-term capital aid.

For the startup phase, the zone has a biopharmaceutical special fund of 3.2 billion yuan ($477 million) to identify high-quality projects and offer early-stage and small-scale investment.

For the growth phase, it partnered with Jiadao Capital in establishing a 1.5-billion-yuan CGT fund to screen high-quality projects about to enter clinical trials or in Phase I or II clinical trials and strengthen funding support.

In the mature phase, it relies on the Huikai Xichuang Strategic Emerging Industry Fund — with a size of 1 billion yuan — to focus on supporting projects in Phase III clinical trials or the industrialization stage and accelerate the landing of achievements.

The three funds each focus on ensuring that enterprises have capital "escorting" at every R&D stage.

As clinical trials are a key link in CGT R&D moving from the laboratory to patients, the zone has created a favorable research environment and opened a CGT channel of "R&D — clinical trials — review and approval — clinical application", building a medicine-engineering collaborative network.