BGI Group CEO Yin Ye: The world will achieve "healthy aging" within one or two generations

Recently published in the "Suggestions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development," biological manufacturing has been listed alongside quantum technology and embodied intelligence as one of the six major future industries for the first time. Over the past decade, China has gradually shifted from an industry structure primarily based on generic drugs to a research and development model centered on innovative drugs, attracting unprecedented attention from the global market.

Yin Ye, CEO of BGI Group, has long been active in the field of biomedical science popularization. In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, he began by discussing biological manufacturing itself in simple terms, extending to the competition in the global biopharmaceutical field. In his view, everything is "biological manufacturing."

Faced with the technological advantages of developed countries and various challenges such as changing geopolitical dynamics, Yin Ye stated that we must believe that "China is the strongest in the world from 1 to 100, and is rapidly catching up in original innovation from 0 to 1, and the next generation will be even better."

The Prospects of the Biological Manufacturing Industry Are Inestimable

Global Times: This year's "Government Work Report" officially proposed biological manufacturing as a future industry for the first time. How do you understand the position of biological manufacturing in China's industrial sector?

Yin Ye: Many "miracles" are happening in the field of biological manufacturing. Recently, a biotechnology company, Heyuan Bio, listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, has a core technology called "rice blood production." It is reported that a single rice plant can produce important components of human plasma, "human serum albumin," which is expected to solve China's long-term reliance on imports of human serum albumin. It sounds incredible, but this is the charm of biological manufacturing.

Taking gene editing technology as an example, it can treat human infectious diseases and genetic disorders. In the past, genetic diseases were difficult to cure, but today's gene editing technology can achieve in-body gene editing to correct faulty genes. This is actually the power of biological manufacturing—it transforms the substances deep within our invisible cells and genes into controllable technologies that will directly change our production and lifestyle. Recently, many Chinese startups with this technology have achieved very good results in phase I and even phase II clinical trials for their research drugs.

Biological manufacturing has many application scenarios, such as using biotechnology to degrade plastics and producing hyaluronic acid (also known as hyaluronic acid) used in the medical beauty industry through microorganisms like E. coli and yeast. Strictly speaking, the Earth can be seen as a product of biological manufacturing. Today, using the wisdom of biological manufacturing to target the production of the substances we need has immeasurable industrial prospects and great potential for the future.

Global Times: By 2024, the average life expectancy of residents in China is expected to reach 79 years, achieving the target requirements of the "14th Five-Year Plan" ahead of schedule. Among G20 countries, China's average life expectancy ranks tenth. From a medical perspective, what issues still need to be addressed for the steady improvement of China's average life expectancy in the future?

Yin Ye: The Chinese medical community has gradually shifted from advocating "treatment-centered" approaches to "prevention-centered" and then to "health-centered." We all hope to live long, fall ill late, and pass away peacefully. If a person's life expectancy is 100 years, and they spend 30 years in an unhealthy state, the quality of life is predictable, and the economic burden will also increase From a medical perspective, a person faces only a few "roadblocks" throughout their life: infectious diseases, malignant tumors, metabolic diseases, and degenerative diseases of the central nervous system. Looking back at history and looking forward to the future, we can see that controlling infectious diseases has allowed the global average life expectancy to exceed 60 years; reducing the incidence of malignant tumors has pushed the average life expectancy towards 70 years; effectively managing metabolic diseases could further extend the average life expectancy to 80 years; while degenerative diseases of the central nervous system, such as Alzheimer's disease, are currently the core bottleneck limiting the average life expectancy from reaching 90 years and beyond. However, I believe that if the pace of technological iteration and popularization continues, the goal of "healthy centenarians" will be achieved within one or two generations.

Global Times: Kevin Kelly (KK), the founding editor of Wired magazine, recently expressed great optimism about China's development in the life sciences during an exclusive interview with us. He suggested that AI-driven advancements in life sciences may enable humanity to achieve "centenarian lives" or even "some degree of immortality," with the value of gene sequencing being very important. If everyone understands their likelihood of developing certain diseases, it is crucial for disease prevention, and China may achieve universal gene sequencing in the future. What is your assessment of this?

Yin Ye: If everyone can undergo genetic testing, including screening for rare diseases, it will greatly help in disease prevention. For example, individuals over 40 should regularly undergo screenings for metabolic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, and early screening and intervention for degenerative diseases of the central nervous system, like Alzheimer's, could save the country a significant amount in medical expenses. These calculations need to be made in advance starting now.

Taking Alzheimer's disease as an example, there are ways to intervene in the early and mid-stages of the disease, but options become limited in the later stages. Although there are many screening methods available on the market now, most are expensive and complex. If it becomes universal, we must reduce the costs to a level that the public can afford. For instance, non-invasive prenatal genetic testing for Down syndrome was initially priced at six to seven thousand yuan when it first launched in China, but now, in some regions, the price has dropped to over 300 yuan. With such a large market in China, it will inevitably drive model innovation, and Chinese biomedicine can make a greater contribution globally.

China and the U.S. at the Same Starting Line

Global Times: The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Emerging Biotechnology National Security Council submitted a 215-page report to Congress in April, stating that "China is rapidly rising to become a leader in the biotechnology field." How does China's biotechnology strength compare globally?

Yin Ye: Undoubtedly, the best performers are China and the U.S. Additionally, Europe, Japan, Australia, and South Korea each have their own characteristics. China is in the first tier in most fields or is at a "second place striving for first" level. The U.S. has many leading concepts in scientific breakthroughs. However, from the perspective of technological innovation application and industrial transformation, especially in engineering and manufacturing, this is China's strong suit. China has indeed made a large number of original achievements in the biotechnology field and also has a strong "cost-performance" advantage, which will provide many opportunities for China in the future An example illustrates the issue well: the same type of stem cell drug listed in China and the U.S. with only a two-week difference in listing time, but the price difference is 70 times, with the U.S. price reaching over 11 million RMB. I was stunned to hear this; the per capita GDP in the U.S. is higher than in China, but can it be 70 times higher? Where exactly is the "accessibility" of such priced drugs? I often feel confused. A drug for treating rare diseases was once listed in Europe, priced at 10 million RMB per dose, but ultimately only sold one or two doses before being withdrawn from the market. This is the biggest failure: the drug was approved, but the public couldn't afford it. China doesn't do such things.

Global Times: Why is the gap between China and the U.S. not significant in the field of biomedicine?

Yin Ye: Taking the chip industry as an example, the U.S. has more advanced lithography machines, akin to holding a sharp "precision knife" that can easily cut out 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer precision chips; while we currently do not have tools of the same level, making it naturally difficult to achieve the same precision. However, I believe that breakthroughs in chip tools in China are only a matter of time.

In the field of biomanufacturing, the core reason for the small gap between China and the U.S. is that both sides use the same underlying tools; we are both using "cells" as reactors. For lithography technology, it is a "white box" (the internal structure of the system is completely known—editor's note) and unsolvable; even if I give you all the blueprints, you cannot produce it without precise industrial mother machines. In the life sciences field, cells are like a "gray box" (part of the structure is known—editor's note) that can be used; none of us can fully understand the fundamental operating mechanisms inside cells, but as long as specific inputs are provided, corresponding outputs can be observed. In this regard, China and the U.S. are on the same starting line.

In my view, the rise of China's biomedicine is based on the premise of using the same tools, combined with our two core advantages: first, a large "engineer dividend," and second, a cultural trait of "not fearing competition." We always hold the mindset of "why can't we do it, let's push a little harder, let's persist a little longer," making not only better drugs and medical devices but also achieving higher cost-effectiveness. At the same time, China's large clinical trial population base also provides a unique advantage for research and development.

Global Times: The U.S. new version of the "Biodefense Act" was recently passed by a majority vote in the Senate as part of the 2026 Fiscal Year "National Defense Authorization Act." The news quickly triggered a global shock in the biomedicine industry, and there is widespread belief that China's biomedicine industry may face a new round of challenges. How do you assess the future prospects of China's biomedicine industry going overseas?

Yin Ye: The Earth has over 8 billion people. If we only focus on the profit curve, aiming for the sweetest part of the watermelon, targeting only the wealthiest developed countries, without considering whether people in Africa, Latin America, and ASEAN need this technology, we may lose a larger market.

Rather than worrying about some countries not allowing us in, we should think about whom we can help. We can assist women in Rwanda with cervical cancer screenings and send perennial rice, which can be "planted once and harvested for many years," to Africa, Southeast Asia, and other regions, allowing technology to benefit more markets that need it In cutting-edge technology, especially in the field of life sciences, we need to take a long-term perspective and follow the natural way—if life can achieve it, why can't we? Spider silk doesn't require high temperature and pressure, yet its toughness is still so strong. We should think more about such questions, draw wisdom from nature, and then feedback to the world, achieving harmonious coexistence with it.

"China will definitely become the global center for biotherapy"

Global Times: Since the beginning of this year, Chinese innovative pharmaceutical companies have frequently engaged in large-scale "going abroad" BD (Business Development) transactions, which foreign media describe as China's biotechnology entering a "DeepSeek moment." In the future, will Chinese innovative drugs bear more fruit domestically?

Yin Ye: In fact, since last year, our internationalization path has not only been about "going abroad" BD, but there has been a large number of "License-out" transactions, which means we are licensing our independently developed technologies or products to large foreign pharmaceutical companies. This trend is expected to double this year compared to last year.

At the same time, the domestic pharmaceutical industry is undergoing an "elimination" process, actively discarding backward production capacity and leaving the saved resources and funds for truly innovative drugs, encouraging them to break through quickly in better ways. I firmly believe that it is highly probable for Chinese people to access and afford the most advanced innovative drugs.

A key signal is that State Council Order No. 818, the "Regulations on the Management of Clinical Research and Clinical Translation Applications of Biomedical New Technologies," has been officially issued and will be implemented on May 1 next year. In my view, this is a huge boon for the industry, and it can be confidently stated that China will definitely become the global center for biotherapy.

Global Times: During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, in which directions will biomanufacturing make significant progress?

Yin Ye: I am optimistic about four areas. First, biomedicine and high-end medical devices will achieve comprehensive breakthroughs. China has made tremendous progress in high-end medical devices; previously, CT and MRI relied on imports, but now domestic equipment has become mainstream. Many life science devices, including those from BGI, have been replaced with domestic products, and we are beginning to lead from the underlying technology.

Second, there is great potential in the agricultural sector. Through better breeding technologies, we have seen promising signs in crop quality, yield, resilience, and even the cultivation of perennial traits. For example, agriculture in deserts has become a reality, transforming deserts, selecting suitable crops, and extensively using microbial agents to replace chemical fertilizers, which has been successful in rice and soybean cultivation.

Third, bioplastics will experience an explosion. We will replace traditional high-energy-consuming and difficult-to-degrade materials produced by the chemical industry with biomass (referring to organic materials formed through photosynthesis in nature or produced by human activities—editor's note). As fossil energy costs rise and "dual carbon" pressures increase, the cost advantages of biomanufacturing will gradually become apparent, ultimately achieving large-scale replacement at a certain point Fourth, the ocean will become a "new blue ocean" for biomanufacturing. On one hand, bacteria, actinomycetes, and viruses in the ocean are important sources of knowledge and genetic resources; on the other hand, we can vigorously develop marine ranching to cultivate fish and shellfish. For example, oysters can sequester carbon on their own, and there is no need to manage fish and other seafood like we do with cattle and sheep. As long as overfishing is avoided, the ocean can provide high-quality protein for humanity in its own way. The key lies in thoroughly researching its patterns, selecting good varieties, and designing appropriate farming methods.

Global Times

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