QINGDAO, China, Dec 10 (Bernama-AsiaNet) — Recently, Zhang Jiandong, director-general of Oceanic Administration of Shandong Province, said at a press conference held by the Information Office of Shandong Provincial People’s Government that in 2019, Shandong’s total marine output value reached 1.46 trillion yuan, continuing to rank second in China, accounting for 16.3% of China’s total. In Shandong’s marine sector, the scale of marine fishery, marine biomedical industry, marine salt industry, marine electric power industry and marine transportation industry all ranked first in China.
Zhang said that the marine biomedical industry is one of the most promising strategic emerging industries in China. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), Shandong Province has stepped up the research and development of innovative marine drugs, set up “China Blue Drug Bank Development Fund” with a total scale of 5 billion yuan, established Shandong Marine Drugs Manufacturing Industry Innovation Center, and built six product R & D platforms for modern marine drugs, modern marine Chinese medicine, etc. GV971, a new Chinese drug for Alzheimer’s disease independently developed by academician Guan Huashi’s team, has been approved and put on the market, becoming the 14th marine drug in the world and the 2nd in China. Qingdao has built the world’s largest seaweed biological products industrial base, and its alginate production capacity ranks first in the world. Yantai Dongcheng Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. has become the world’s largest manufacturer of raw materials of chondroitin sulfate and the only domestic supplier of chondroitin sulfate injection.