China-based high-tech firm P&P Biotech has been awarded a patent from the US for its hydrophilic, electro-spinning composite scaffold biomaterial and related methods and applications that are used in tissue regeneration, signalizing that China has moved into a leadership position in terms of biotechnology development. The patent, covering its platform technology rather than a single biological product or technology, opens up a market with an economic potential estimated at some 100 billion yuan. The technology is projected to benefit the global community following commercialization.
It is rare for an original biomaterial technology developed in China, and especially one that can serve as a platform technology, to be granted a US patent. China's medical biomaterial industry, despite a late start, the uneven development and the amount of catching up that had to take place in order to establish a position in the global market, expanded to approximately 200 billion yuan in 2017, on the back of an annual growth rate of nearly 15%. The country was facing a situation where about 70% of the mature products in the category were imported. To change the status quo, China has enhanced support it offers to technical innovation and promoted efforts that have led to breakthroughs in the technology.
In the early 1990s, He Hongbin, current CEO of P&P Biotech and one of the earliest researchers committed to biomaterial in China, studied tissue engineering and biology surgery in Austria and Japan, countries where substantial progress in the field had already been made. In 1995, he successfully developed the world's first first-generation animal-derived fibrin sealant for human use. He then returned to China to start up a business with the goal of commercializing what he had developed.
In 2002, he founded P&P Biotech. He and his R&D team have developed a number of high-tech products including fast-dissolution fibrin sealant (brand name: Chuangxufeng) and soft-tissue inductive biomaterial (biologic surgery graft and regenerative artificial ligaments). Given the gaps between China and the world's developed countries in terms of biotechnology, Dr. He, a veteran with years of experience in surgery, set as a mission the reduction of patient suffering by applying more advanced biotechnologies in operating rooms. Decades of efforts have brought him one step closer to the goal of making China one of the world's biotechnology leaders. P&P Biotech's new patent for its platform technology demonstrates not only the firm's prowess at innovation, but also China's strength when it comes to biomedical technology. It took P&P Biotech 15 years to obtain a patent from the US patent office, including some 6 years spent on the application process and the wait for approval.
The patented platform technology developed by a Chinese firm is the first of its kind worldwide as well as the first to have been approved by the U.S. Patent Office. The resulting materials has induced tissue regeneration in animal experiments, including skeletal muscle, blood vessels and Achilles tendon, among other membranous, tubular and cord-like forms. They can regenerate corresponding tissue structures in different parts of the body and restore the normal functions of human tissue.
The first high-strength product has now been approved for clinical use while several other products are in clinical trials. Another important product used for rotator cuffs has shown extraordinary efficacy in animal experiments, marking another milestone in P&P Biotech's clinical transformation.
Opening up a 100 billion yuan market
The fast-growing modern biotechnology sector has demonstrated significant progress and achieved a series of important breakthroughs, and is accelerating its real-life applications. In this strategic field, governments, especially those in developed countries, have established national strategies to quickly seize a leadership position and accelerate the revolutionary development of the industry. The US, Germany, Japanand South Korea have put in place relevant bioeconomy policies to promote in-country research and development.
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