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The gap analysis between Chinese pharmaceutical academia and industry from 2000 to 2018

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Abstract

The publication number in pharmaceutics from Chinese academia globally ranked second in 2014. However, the R&D capability of Chinese pharmaceutical industry significantly lags behind its globally 2nd market with 373 billion USD. The study aims to analyze the gaps between Chinese academia and industry in pharmaceutics. Publication, national funding programs and postgraduate training were analyzed to identify the academic output. R&D expenses input, research scientists and marketed products were investigated to evaluate the industrial demand. The Chinese publication number in pharmaceutics grows sharply, ranking first globally in 2017. The hot fields from Chinese scholars focused on nanomedicine and gene delivery, while the majority of products in Chinese pharmaceutical companies were still conventional dosage forms (e.g. tablet, capsule and injection). On the other hand, the number of Ph.D. graduates in pharmaceutics maintained a quite low-level output from 2000 to 2018, which seriously unmet the growing demand of high-level formulation scientists from Chinese pharmaceutical industry. Furthermore, the development of Chinese drug administration system from 1978 to 2018 was detailed summarized, analyzed and discussed because the government policies strongly influence the academia and pharmaceutical industry. Two suggestions are provided to bridge the gaps between Chinese academia and pharmaceutical industry. On the one hand, Chinese universities should shift the academic evaluation system from publication-orientation to more diverse science and demand-driven researches. On the other hand, more industry-oriented Ph.D. graduates should be trained to meet the increasing demand from the pharmaceutical industry. As the second largest market in the world, Chinese pharmaceutical industry will face the enormous progress in next 5–10 years.

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Notes

  1. China pharmaceutical industry economic operation report in (2018). http://www.lwzb.gov.cn/pub/lwzb/gzdt/201905/t20190521_5113.html.

  2. Pharm exec's top 50 companies (2018). http://www.pharmexec.com/pharm-execs-top-50-companies-2018.

  3. Center for Food and Drug Inspection of NMPA. http://www.cfdi.org.cn/resource/news/6794.html.

  4. National Medical Products Administration. http://app1.sfda.gov.cn/datasearchcnda/face3/dir.html?type=yp.

  5. National Medical Products Administration. http://www.nmpa.gov.cn/WS04/CL2200/334162.html.

  6. China education funding statistics yearbook. (2017) http://www.yearbookchina.com/navibooklist-n3018062625-1.html.

  7. National Natural Science Foundation of China http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the cooperative construction of a bid data platform for Chinese Medicine CP-001-2018, Macau Science and Technology Development Fund (FDCT) (Grant No. 0029/2018/A1) and 2017 Sub-project 6 of National Major Scientific and Technological Special Project for “Significant New Drugs Development” (2017ZX09101001006) by the National Institute of Food and Drug Control.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences (ICMS), University of Macau, Macau, China

    Hao Zhong & Defang Ouyang

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  1. Hao Zhong
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  2. Defang Ouyang
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Correspondence to Defang Ouyang.

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Zhong, H., Ouyang, D. The gap analysis between Chinese pharmaceutical academia and industry from 2000 to 2018. Scientometrics 122, 1113–1128 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-019-03313-7

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