AstraZeneca continues to grow footprint in China with landmark expansion

As AstraZeneca returns to the China International Import Expo, it is seeking to help further expand the influence of the important event and contribute to building up an integrated healthcare service ecosystem.

This year, with a total of 1,100 square meters of exhibition space themed "Leaping into a new horizon, co-creating a new ecosystem," AstraZeneca is not only focusing on its own innovative products and solutions but is also placing significant emphasis on partnership and the industry as a whole.

It's also been actively responding to the country's call for the adoption of the latest medicines and treatments on a trial basis at the Boao Lecheng pilot zone of international medical tourism.

AstraZeneca China has increasingly shown its strategic importance to the company in terms of scientific research and development, production and operation, and commercial innovation.

In early October, AstraZeneca unveiled its upgraded R&D China Center located in Jing'an District, the Shanghai International Life Science Innovation Campus, and the Medical Healthcare AI Innovation Center, serving as the latest milestone in AstraZeneca's expanding footprint in the country.

"The CIIE is undoubtedly an incomparable platform for enterprises to carry out government-enterprise communication, exchange, and cooperation. It also reflects the government's strong determination to open up to the outside world at a higher level and the mindset as a responsible large country in the world," said Leon Wang, executive vice-president, International and China president of AstraZeneca.

"The CIIE is an indispensable platform for us to showcase and to negotiate with collaborators, and it is now also an important chance to exemplify these practices," Wang said.

Through collaboration with government, industry, academia, research institutes, medical institutions, and investment with other cross-sector partners, AstraZeneca will unveil a multi-level healthcare innovation ecosystem.

An additional 100-square-meter regional biopharmaceutical industry cooperation booth is set up to facilitate investment, roadshows, negotiations, and other events to boost regional economies and innovative development.

The area, comprised of an exhibition zone, activity zone, negotiation zone, and other industrial cooperation and exchange sections, will host a wide range of industrial recommendation activities, exchanges, negotiations, and innovative enterprise roadshows.

Leveraging its extensive platform and expansive reach as a leading multinational pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca has a big presence in the industry in various dimensions and is bringing to the CIIE exhibits that showcase the latest breakthroughs in its development and collaboration with partners.

Since the first CIIE, AstraZeneca has participated for four consecutive years and has continuously introduced global achievements to empower China's healthcare industry through the expo's platform.

AstraZeneca has introduced and showcased a variety of high-quality drugs at the CIIE over the past three years, including Flumucil and Broncho-Vaxom for respiratory diseases, Roxadustat for kidney diseases, and Linzess for digestion.

The CIIE has proven to be an excellent stage for enterprises' further development in China and the cooperation between government, industry, academia, research institutes, medical institutions, investment, and other stakeholders across different sectors.

Partnerships reached during the previous editions of CIIE have also reaped fruitful results.

AstraZeneca and China International Capital Corporation jointly established a healthcare industry fund at the second CIIE. It has completed the first phase of fundraising, accruing 2.2 billion yuan (US$338 million), and has also invested and supported post-investment management of companies in the fields of drugs, diagnosis, and digital healthcare.

It has successfully made investments in the first batch of companies including Abbisko, Zhizhong Healthcare, Deepwise, ETERN Therapeutics, and Cellular Biomedicine Group.

AstraZeneca said it's looking forward to co-creating more breakthrough products and integrated solutions for diagnosis and treatment with its partners to fulfill the promise of "In China, For China; In China, For the World."

"We have been optimizing our ecosystem and we've received a very active response from the city and county-level government to collaborate to push forward innovation in all aspects," Wang commented.

"We've seen China's favorable attitude towards home-grown innovation, and we plan to fully leverage opportunities where domestic and overseas counterparts come together," he added.

With its China headquarters located in Shanghai, the company has also been steadily expanding its footprint in the city and the surrounding Yangtze River Delta region.

Since its establishment of the China Health IoT Innovation Center in 2017, AstraZeneca has successively unveiled regional innovation centers with the partnership of local institutions in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Yantai and Hainan Province, themed around grass-roots healthcare, artificial intelligence, digital healthcare, integration of Chinese and Western medicine industries, medical quality management, and Internet-based healthcare.

Additionally, AstraZeneca worked with local governments and localized its global innovation hubs in the Chinese mainland since 2019 in Wuxi. At present, the iCampus has gradually achieved a coordinated nationwide deployment in Wuxi, Beijing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Shanghai, Yixing and Guangzhou. At this year's CIIE, the iCampus will bring in more than 10 companies to its nationwide innovation satellites, gathering more than 60 enterprises to settle down.

iCampus has also reached cooperation deals with nearly 10 international innovation institutions and more than 10 leading investment institutions to pool global wisdom and foster business growth.