It was learned on October 14 that, the "Several Measures to Promote High-quality Development of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Industry in Hunan Province" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") has been issued. Aiming for the goal of "achieving a total output value of over 200 billion CNY across the entire TCM industrial chain by 2030," Hunan Province has introduced 20 innovative and pragmatic measures this time.

As a major province in TCM resources, Hunan's TCM industry has been "well-established and strongly driven" in recent years. To date, Hunan boasts 4,667 types of TCM resources, ranking among the top nationwide and first in the central regions of China. The province's TCM planting area covers 4.93 million mu (approximately 328,666.67 ha.). In 2024, the total output value of the entire TCM industry chain exceeded 150 billion CNY, with six enterprises listed among China's top 100 TCM companies, ranking fourth nationwide in terms of the number of selected enterprises. In July this year, the National Germplasm Resource Bank for Chinese Medicinal Materials was officially established in Hunan.

It was said that the innovative initiatives in the "Measures" are mainly reflected in "three focuses."

Focusing on full-chain coordination to build a complete ecosystem "from the field to clinical application." Hunan Province will address weaknesses across the entire TCM chain of "seed industry—planting—manufacturing—distribution—application—integration" segment by segment. Specifically, this entails development at the "front end, middle end, and back end."

At the front end, it will focus on the seed industry by accelerating the construction of the National Germplasm Resource Bank for Chinese Medicinal Materials and establishing improved seed breeding bases and standardized planting bases. It will ensure that Chinese medicinal materials have "good seeds" and are planted adheres to "gold standards," allowing the public to benefit from development. At the middle end, it will improve quality by promoting digital processing of TCM decoction pieces and constructing smart factories, making "traceable and high-quality" TCM. A pattern of integrated development among large, medium, and small enterprises will basically take shape. At the back end, it will strengthen application by supporting the upgrade of trading markets such as Lianqiao in Shaodong, enhancing TCM procurement and clinical use in grassroots medical consortium drug catalogs, removing restrictions on innovative drug hospital admissions, and expediting the establishment of pricing items for new technologies and projects in TCM clinical application through "green channels."

Focusing on integrated innovation, with incentives and subsidies as support to break through industrial technology bottlenecks. The province will provide subsidies to enterprises based on a certain proportion of the additional deduction for R&D expenses, up to a maximum of 10 million CNY.

In addition, the province will increase incentives and subsidies for innovative drug R&D and R&D platforms while expanding the value-added potential of "TCM+." Support will be given to developing health products such as medicated diets, cosmeceuticals, functional foods, and health foods, with richer and more diverse development of health products based on medicinal and edible substances like huangjing (Polygonatum sibiricum), yuzhu (Polygonatum odoratum), lily, and poria. New scenarios such as TCM cultural theme parks, health and wellness tourism bases, and distinctive neighborhoods will be created, along with new business formats like "Internet+" TCM health services.

Focusing on policy integration to form a strong synergy of "coordinated efforts across all fronts." The province will integrate multi-dimensional support policies in finance, taxation, land, and talent to establish a working pattern of "a single document guiding everything, with multiple parties collaborating to execute."

In terms of financial support, government investment funds will be coordinated, tax incentives implemented, financial institutions encouraged to increase credit allocation, and the inclusion of Chinese medicinal economic forests in the scope of collateral assets explored. Regarding factor support, priority will be given to ensuring industrial land use to "guarantee all that is necessary" and promoting flexible talent mobility. In terms of mechanism building, the provincial, municipal, and county-level three-tier collaborative promotion mechanism will be improved to ensure policies are operable and effective.

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn