Forward Pharma Wins 7.75 Million Award From Shenzhen Government Funds

The 8th Shenzhen International Biomedical Industry Summit Forum and the 2022 Shenzhen Biomedical Industry Week opened on December 12, 2022 in Pingshan, Shenzhen. With the theme of "Bay Area for Biomedicine Future", the Summit invited more than 10 CAS members, 40+ industry leaders, as well as representatives from biopharmaceutical companies, service organizations, policy research institutions, and investment firms to discuss the hot issues in the development of the biomedical industry. Academic exchanges, policy discussions, and biotech-investor cooperation are the major sections. Virtual keynote speeches are given by Dr. Nanshan ZHONG, a renowned Covid and infectious disease researcher physician, and by Mr. Weizhong QIN, mayor of Shenzhen.

Several ceremonies are held during the summit, including launching of industry funds, awarding licenses for industry alliances, signing of major projects, and initiating construction of characteristic park projects. During the industrial policy support award ceremony, 11 biopharmaceutical and high-end medical device enterprises receive awards for their contributions to the Shenzhen biomedical industry. Forward Pharma is awarded 7.75 million CNY for receiving clinical trial approval for its lung cancer targeted therapy FWD1509.

In 2020, Shenzhen launched a policy called "1+3" for the development of the biomedical industry, which includes the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Concentration Efforts of Biomedical Industry Development in Shenzhen (Guiding Opinions), the Implementation Plan for Shenzhen Biomedicine Industry Agglomeration Development (2020-2025) (Implementation Plan), the Action Plan for the Development of Biomedical Industry in Shenzhen (2020-2025) (Action Plan), and Several Measures for Promoting the Concentration Efforts of Biomedical Industry Development in Shenzhen (Several Measures). Among them, several measures specifically explain the scope and standards of incentive measures for funding. A phased funding policy is implemented for new drugs undergoing clinical trials domestically and transferred into Shenzhen. For Class 1 chemical drugs, Class 1 biological products, Class 1 Chinese medicine and natural medicines, 40% of the actual investment in R&D costs will be awarded, with a maximum subsidy of RMB 8 million for clinical license holders. The maximum subsidy for completion of phase I, II and III clinical trials are RMB 10 million, RMB 20 million and RMB 30 million respectively. The annual subsidy for a single enterprise caps at RMB 100 million. 

Forward Pharma’s award reflects the milestone of Class 1 drug approved for clinical trial.