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

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.