PerkinElmer research and development base in Taicang, a county-level city in East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/WeChat account: tcfbgw]

Sixty-nine biomedicine companies were set up in Taicang, a county-level city in East China's Jiangsu province, in the first half of this year.

Nineteen projects with a combined investment value of 17.5 billion yuan ($2.58 billion) were also launched in the city during the same period.

The city is presently home to more than 300 biomedicine enterprises engaged in fields including innovative medicines, medical devices and medical outsourcing. These enterprises generate a combined annual revenue of over 20 billion yuan.

Taicang has been making efforts to promote the high-quality development of its bio-pharmaceutical industry in recent years.

For example, authorities have released an action plan to encourage biomedicine enterprises to undertake research projects.

Among these companies is PerkinElmer, Inc. which launched its NeoBase 2 non-derivatized MSMS Kit at its Taicang research and development (R&D) base this year. The kit analyzes newborn heel prick blood samples dried on filter paper and is used with a tandem mass spectrometer.  

Authorities have also implemented a series of measures, including establishing eight special funds worth more than 4.5 billion yuan, to attract more high-caliber talents to the city.

To date, the city has welcomed 14 national level professionals, 29 provincial level talents and 40 municipal level talents.

Three major biomedical industrial parks spanning a combined 2 million square meters and hiring 15,000 professionals have also been set up in Taicang.

A rendering of the Biomedical Industrial Park in Taicang, a county-level city in East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/WeChat account: tcfbgw]