China puts xenotransplantation, off-the-shelf cell therapy, and organ engineering into its 2026–2030 medical industry plan

China puts xenotransplantation, off-the-shelf cell therapy, and organ engineering into its 2026–2030 medical industry plan

On September 18, ten Chinese government agencies led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released Document No. 210, a plan for the development of China's medical industry from 2026 to 2030. Among its ten targets: industry revenue of at least 3.5 trillion yuan (roughly $523 billion) and a Chinese share of at least one quarter of all first-in-class drugs worldwide, meaning drugs with a novel mechanism of action.

The plan calls for technological breakthroughs in xenotransplantation (transplanting animal organs into humans), universal cell therapy using ready-made cell products, construction of complex regenerable organs, and synthesis of artificial living systems, that is, assembly of functioning biological systems from scratch. It separately directs the expansion of genome editing and next-generation brain-computer interfaces.

The new five-year cycle continues work already under way. Over the 2021–2025 period China brought 230 innovative drugs to market and rose to second place globally in the number of drugs under development, according to the ministry's explanatory note. The note ties the new plan to the accelerating aging of the population: by the end of 2025 China had 323.38 million residents aged 60 and older, 23% of the total, reports the National Bureau of Statistics.

In the section on traditional Chinese medicine, the document singles out anti-aging products as a new consumer category, alongside elderly care, rehabilitation, and health management. For rare diseases, it provides for accelerated development and clinical use of cell and gene therapy; the list includes hemophilia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Gaucher disease.

In the first half of 2026 alone, licensing deals for Chinese innovative drugs to foreign pharmaceutical companies reached $106.3 billion; the full-year 2025 total was $135.7 billion. The plan connects an industry already operating at this scale with a concrete list of technologies and targets through 2030.