Taizhou enhances business climate to boost biopharma growth

Aurovitas Pharma Taizhou participates in an exhibition. [Photo/Aurovitas Pharma Taizhou]

Cheers erupted inside Aurovitas Pharma Taizhou in late May as a shipment of capsule products worth 30 million yuan ($4.18 million) set off for Europe. The successful delivery was made possible by the city's proactive biopharmaceutical industry service team, which helped the company navigate urgent regulatory hurdles.

Earlier this year, Aurovitas secured a contract from an EU client to manufacture capsule-based medicines. However, a key requirement — proof of GMP compliance for capsule formulations — posed a serious challenge. "Under normal procedures, it could have taken at least six months — time our client didn't have," said company head Mao Jigen.

Taizhou's biopharma service team intervened with a tailored, accelerated plan. Despite a number of incomplete documents, the team arranged a special GMP inspection within days. On May 29, the same day the EU contract was finalized, the company submitted its registration documents and received approval, allowing production to proceed as scheduled. The deal is expected to boost output by 300 million yuan.

This kind of just-in-time support is becoming more common in Taizhou. For example, at a recent government-organized seminar on overseas market entry, officials and experts helped Taizhou-based Leiling Bio understand complex regulatory requirements for exporting animal testing equipment.

Since its launch, the city's biopharma service team has addressed 243 pain points for 198 companies, solving 150 of them in areas such as international certification, registration guidance, and cross-border logistics.

Aurovitas has committed to an additional $120 million investment to expand EU-standard solid dosage production, a vote of confidence in Taizhou's business environment.

Taizhou's strategy — turning soft services into hard growth drivers — is paying off. In May alone, the city signed agreements on six new biopharma projects, each worth over 100 million yuan. By the end of the month, total biopharma output reached 20.9 billion yuan.