BIOCHINA 2026 South China Opens in Guangzhou’s Huangpu

The 2026 BIOCHINA South China conference, now in its third edition, was recently held at the Guangzhou Huangpu International Convention Center. The program featured thematic forums and other activities covering key areas such as cell and gene therapy (CGT). The BIOCHINA partnering program invited several multinational pharmaceutical companies to participate. Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited (GPHL), the Investment Promotion Bureau of Guangzhou Development District and other organizations set up dedicated meeting rooms at the venue. According to the organizers, more than 500 partnering meetings took place during the conference.

More than 80 prominent exhibitors from China and abroad showcased their core products. The conference also featured a range of industry activities, including “Young Dreamers.”

During the conference, GPHL hosted a forum on business development (BD) cooperation and South China’s innovation ecosystem. Wen Riyu, deputy director of the Investment Promotion Bureau of Guangzhou Development District, delivered a presentation on the industrial ecosystem and support services spanning the area’s “two cities and one island”—Science City, Knowledge City and Bio Island. Several Huangpu-based companies also participated in parallel forums.

Guangzhou Development District and Huangpu District are key drivers of Guangzhou’s biopharmaceutical industry and rank among China’s leading biopharmaceutical industrial parks in terms of industrial strength. The area has developed an industrial layout combining R&D on Bio Island, pilot production in Science City and manufacturing in Knowledge City. It is home to more than 5,200 innovative drug and medical device companies, including AstraZeneca, BeOne Medicines (formerly BeiGene) and Akeso. These include 463 high-tech enterprises and 22 listed companies, with the latter accounting for 73 percent of Guangzhou’s listed companies in the sector.

Class 1 innovative drugs from the area have received marketing approval in each of the past six years, with 13 approved to date, accounting for nearly half of Guangdong’s total. So far this year, companies in the area have submitted more than 100 new drug applications, representing 80 percent of Guangzhou’s total and 30 percent of Guangdong’s.