Photo:VCG

Macao's traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) industry stands to benefit from cooperation in the Greater Bay Area, especially from closer cooperation with Hengqin in South China's Guangdong Province, Choi Peng Cheong, president of the Pharmaceutical Supervision and Administration Bureau of Macao, told the Global Times in a recent exclusive interview.

Due to a shortage of land resources in Macao, the scale and production capacity of TCM enterprises in the special administrative region (SAR) is relatively weak, which has to some extent limited the development of Macao's renowned TCM industry.

The Macao SAR government has in recent years been promoting a policy of "Macao registration plus Hengqin production" by introducing relevant laws on TCM pharmaceutical activity and regulation on the registration of proprietary Chinese Medicines and promoting a contract manufacturing system, with the aim of encouraging Macao's TCM enterprises to leverage Hengqin's land, research and human resources to jointly develop Macao-branded TCM products, and foster the integrated development of Macao's TCM industry alongside Hengqin, according to Choi.

The mainland has a vast market and abundant resources in TCM and the implementation of the mainland's related simplified measures on TCM registration and approval for external-use listed in Hong Kong and Macao has facilitated the entry of Macao's proprietary Chinese medicines into the mainland market, Choi said, adding that two Macao-manufactured proprietary Chinese medicines for external use have already obtained drug registration on the mainland.

Moreover, with the support of the National Medical Products Administration, the drug regulatory authorities of Guangdong and Macao have achieved regulatory innovation and introduced mainland Chinese medicine hospital preparations for clinical use in Macao hospitals, allowing Macao residents to use the mainland's high-quality TCM resources, according to the Macao official, noting that such innovative measures may also promote the integrated development of TCM in both Guangdong and Macao.

Commenting on the mainland's complete removal of foreign investment access restrictions in the manufacturing industry, including the removal of the prohibition on foreign investment in the processing of TCM decoction pieces and the production of proprietary Chinese medicines with confidential formulas, the Macao official said the "zero" access restrictions for manufacturing is conducive to increasing the supply of high-quality products and services and promoting healthy competition in the mainland market.

The 2024 "negative list" for foreign investment access, as part of the country's latest efforts to promote wider opening-up to the outside world, took effect on Friday.

It also provides broader space and international cooperation opportunities for Macao's pharmaceutical enterprises to develop in Hengqin and other areas on the mainland, participate in the development, management and monitoring of products at the source end, and promote technological exchanges and innovation, Choi said.

Amid broader Greater Bay Area cooperation in recent years, the Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Industrial Park of Co-operation between Guangdong and Macao (GMTCM Park) was set up in 2011 to assist the industry in expanding the trade of TCM services to Portuguese-speaking countries.

As of the end of August, the number of registered companies inside the park has reached 237, of which 83 are from the Macao SAR, according to news portal 21jingji.com.

So far, the GMTCM Park has successfully promoted a number of Chinese medicine products to Portuguese-speaking countries, three of which are Macao-manufactured proprietary Chinese medicines, Choi said.

At the 7th Belt and Road Forum for Traditional Chinese Medicine Development, held in Beijing in September, Choi said that Macao will tap into its unique advantages to promote the high-quality and modern development of TCM and contribute to its internationalization to allow more people in the world to benefit from TCM.

According to an official plan issued in 2020, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao will strengthen cooperation in building a "highland" for the TCM sector. The plan calls for greatly improving the international competitiveness of TCM by 2025.