Officials from the Hefei development zone and representatives of OKeanos Tech Co jointly break ground for the new biomedical R&D and production plant. [Photo from WeChat account hefeigaoxinfabu]

A ground breaking ceremony for the Hefei Life Science and Technology Industry Base for Beijing-based OKeanos Tech Co was held in Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone on Aug 10.

A major project introduced to the biomedical industrial park in the zone, the biomedical R&D and production plant will cover an area of over 3 hectares and have a floor area of 46,000 square meters.

With a total planned investment of 500 million yuan ($70.77 million), the plant will be mainly used for sequencing reagents and various molecular diagnostic reagents and for the production of related instruments.

Officials said that after the project is completed and put into production, its annual output value is expected to exceed 1 billion yuan.

Fang Xiangmin, vice director of the zone, said the project would play an important role in boosting technological innovation in the biomedical industry and held form a complete industrial chain.

The main business operations of OKeanos includes special biochemical reagents used in life science and the manufacture of pharmaceutical intermediates. The company has strong technical expertise in organic chemistry, pharmaceutical chemistry and in chemical engineering and is pursuing the upgrade of its R&D capabilities.