Global pharmaceutical giants are ramping up investment in China as the country charts its 15th Five-Year Plan, which highlights biomedicine and other emerging strategic industries. The blueprint encourages foreign capital to support advanced manufacturing, modern services, and high-tech sectors, positioning biomedicine as a cornerstone of China’s innovation-driven growth.

U.S. pharma leader Eli Lilly has announced plans to invest 3 billion dollars over the next decade to expand its Chinese supply chain and local production of an innovative oral drug. French firm Sanofi recently opened its first China Innovation and Operation Centre in Chengdu and broke ground on a 1-billion-euro insulin API manufacturing base in Beijing last October. Meanwhile, British drugmaker AstraZeneca pledged 14.5 billion dollars through 2030 to boost manufacturing and R&D in the country.

The moves reflect global companies’ growing confidence in China’s long-term healthcare ambitions and underscore their commitment to supporting the nation’s goal of building a Healthy China by 2035.