China Baoyuan Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Baoyuan") is a professional company of China nuclear industry Group Co., Ltd. in the industrialization of nuclear technology application, which is mainly responsible for promoting the application of nuclear technology in the field of people's livelihood, among which medical treatment is the main track to promote the application of nuclear technology. We hope to better adapt to domestic application scenarios by solving the 'bottleneck' problem, while reducing treatment costs, improving equipment penetration rate, and contributing to the achievement of the 'Healthy China' goal, "said Zhang Guowei of its wholly-owned subsidiary, China Nuclear Particle Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as" China Nuclear Particle ").
Leveraging Advantages and Seizing Industry Opportunities
In September 2019, China Baoyuan added a wholly-owned subsidiary - China Nuclear Particle. According to the plan, CNNC is positioned as a nuclear technology equipment business platform company, mainly responsible for formulating development plans for the nuclear technology equipment industry and organizing implementation, promoting the widespread application of nuclear technology in fields such as medicine, industry, agriculture, and scientific research.
The establishment of CNNC is not a sudden whim for major shareholders. From an internal perspective, China Baoyuan, as the main position of CNNC Group to promote nuclear technology for civilian use, has accumulated decades of experience in the field of nuclear medicine. From an external perspective, major shareholders have predicted the current opportunities for the development of the domestic nuclear medical industry. On the one hand, there is an urgent need for local independent brands, and on the other hand, the development of domestic science, technology, and industrial level gives everyone great confidence Zhang Guowei said.
According to public information, there are currently two main sectors in the application of nuclear technology in Baoyuan, China. One is CNNC Medical, which has 7 public hospitals with nuclear medical characteristics, of which nuclear industry General Hospital is located in Suzhou; The other is China Tongfu, which is one of the main suppliers of radioactive drugs in China. In addition, there is irradiation application business. The typical application scenario is to play the role of disinfection and sterilization during the COVID-19 epidemic. The solid foundation of the nuclear medical industry provides unique support for the research and application of nuclear equipment in China Nuclear Particle.
According to the data released by Zhongyan Puhua Industrial Research Institute, the current domestic market sales of nuclear medicine equipment have reached nearly 100 billion yuan, which is expected to exceed 150 billion yuan by 2025. With the intensification of population aging and increasing awareness of health management, the role of nuclear medicine in the diagnosis and treatment of major diseases such as tumors, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases is becoming increasingly prominent. The demand for multi-level and diversified nuclear medical services in China will show explosive growth, and the nuclear medical industry has broad development prospects.
Make full use of the advantages of the domestic large-scale market, fully combine the opportunity period of upgrading and developing industries such as new generation information technology, new materials, and cutting-edge biology in China, accelerate technological breakthroughs, seize the market, and create a domestic brand of nuclear medical equipment.
Break through difficulties and devote all efforts to research and development
It is reported that nuclear medicine, as a product of the combination of nuclear technology, medicine, and related disciplines, is an important component of modern medicine. Medical equipment closely related to nuclear technology is mainly divided into three fields, namely imaging equipment, radiotherapy equipment, and nuclide preparation equipment.
From the perspective of the industrial chain, the upstream of the nuclear medical industry chain is the stable isotope of medical radioactive isotopes and their precursor raw materials, as well as the raw material end of key components of nuclear medical equipment; The midstream is the product end of radioactive drugs, medical radioactive sources, and nuclear medical equipment; Downstream is the service end of nuclear specialty healthcare.
In recent years, China's nuclear medical industry has achieved rapid development, and there have been some companies that have done well. However, the upstream scale of the industrial chain is generally small, and the phenomenon of key links in the industrial chain and supply chain being constrained by people is still quite obvious, "said Zhang Guowei.
Nuclear medicine is related to the physical health of the people, and the improvement of technology levels in various links of the nuclear medical industry chain is an important part of the high-quality development of manufacturing in China.
In order to promote the "acceleration" of the nuclear medical industry, after the establishment of China Nuclear Particle, in early 2021, China Baoyuan teamed up with Tsinghua University to establish the "Tsinghua University China Baoyuan Particle Medical Technology Joint Research Institute". The aim is to strengthen the research and application of high-end particle medical technology and equipment through deep integration of industry, academia, research and medical treatment, targeting people's lives and health, Accelerate the creation of original technology "origin" and modern industrial chain "chain leader" in the field of particle medicine.
In April this year, CNNC held a conference in Chengdu on the release of the full module integrated nuclear medicine project and the establishment of the China nuclear industry digital nuclear medicine specialist alliance. It is understood that relying on the advantage of the whole industry chain that has been deeply rooted in the nuclear medical field for many years, CNNC is aiming to "vigorously develop the nuclear technology medical application industry and create a model of advanced nuclear medical projects with benchmarking and demonstration", cultivating the first batch of nuclear medical application projects covering the integration of all modules of nuclear medicine imaging and testing, nuclide diagnosis and treatment, radiotherapy, intelligent rehabilitation, nuclear emergency medical rescue, etc. in China.
CNNC is actively promoting the research and development of related projects such as SPECT/CT, linear accelerator, BNCT, etc. We hope to achieve and even lead in some fields through efforts, "said Zhang Guowei.
Technological breakthroughs to accelerate industrial development
The development of the nuclear medical industry requires time, and the research and development of large-scale equipment is a "long cycle" task. This not only requires enterprises to have strong research and development capabilities, but also requires them to have a strong sense of social responsibility.
Since the establishment of the company, we have been investing a large amount of resources in research and development, including great support from China National Nuclear Corporation and its major shareholder, China Baoyuan. This process may be long or difficult, but we know that we must do it, "said Zhang Guowei.
Luo Qi, a deputy to the National People's Congress, an academician of the CAE Member, and the chief engineer of CNNC, put forward suggestions on "localization of nuclear medical equipment": give full play to the strength of comprehensive research institutes, and organize interdisciplinary key or special research and development demonstration bases to research and develop equipment; At the same time, the Atomic Energy Act should be introduced as soon as possible, as the development of atomic energy and the application of nuclear technology, including the development of nuclear medicine, require top-level laws to regulate and guide, in order to accelerate the localization of nuclear medical equipment.
In June 2021, eight departments including the National Atomic Energy Agency, the Ministry of Public Security, and the National Drug Administration officially released the "Medium and Long Term Development Plan for Medical Isotopes (2021-2035)". This is the first programmatic document released in China for the application of nuclear technology in the field of healthcare. It is mentioned that the development of nuclear medicine will be raised to the national strategic level. It is required to achieve one nuclear medicine discipline per county by 2035, and at least 2500 nuclear medicine disciplines will be added to 2800 counties and cities nationwide.
At the end of 2021, ten departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, jointly issued the 14th Five Year Plan for the Development of Medical Equipment Industry, which mentioned that precision radiotherapy equipment should be taken as the key development area of the 14th Five Year Plan, and required to strengthen the construction of industrial infrastructure, improve the supply capacity of proton therapy system, heavy ion therapy system, integrated image guided medical linear accelerator and other highly reliable radiotherapy equipment.
"At present, there are about 3000 tertiary hospitals in China, and there are less than 1000 nuclear medicine departments, which is a big gap compared with developed countries. At the same time, the number of nuclear medicine imaging equipment per million people lags behind the number of developed countries in Europe and the United States. The number of nuclear medicine imaging examinations received by China every year is less than 3 million people. Only by achieving high-quality development of the nuclear medicine industry, can we provide more cost-effective nuclear medical services to the people It is necessary to enhance the competitiveness of the national industrial chain and serve the national strategy, while also allowing the people to feel the improvement of happiness index