Interview: Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca bets big on China's innovation, opening up

SHANGHAI, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is deepening its long-term partnership with China, driven by the country's steady efforts to expand high-standard opening up and its growing innovation ecosystem.

On Nov. 5, the first day of the 8th China International Import Expo (CIIE), which runs through Nov. 10, the company announced an additional investment of 136 million U.S. dollars in its manufacturing base in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, just months after unveiling a plan of 2.5 billion U.S. dollars to establish a global strategic R&D center in the capital city of Beijing.

"We really see China as a strategic hub for both R&D and manufacturing," said Tony Pusic, SVP, Supply Asia Pacific, AstraZeneca.

As a full-time participant of the high-profile expo, AstraZeneca brought to this year's CIIE two breast cancer drugs newly approved in the Chinese market, alongside more than 40 innovative medicines covering a wide range of therapeutic areas, including oncology, cardiovascular, renal, respiratory, rare diseases and autoimmune disorders.

"We're really leveraging the CIIE platform, the innovation, the science capability in China to deepen our presence in the country," Pusic said, noting that the expo has allowed AstraZeneca to strengthen cooperation with governments at all levels and with multinational companies.

Since its entry into the Chinese market in 1993, the company's footprint in China has grown substantially. It has established four global production hubs in Wuxi, Taizhou, Qingdao and Beijing, supplying high-quality medicines to more than 70 markets worldwide.

Pusic also praised China's continuous efforts to advance high-level opening up, particularly in the biopharmaceutical sector. Measures such as streamlining the regulatory approval process, strengthening intellectual property protection, and promoting innovation-friendly R&D policies have been "very helpful for global companies like AstraZeneca," he said.

As a move in this direction, in February this year, China announced an action plan to stabilize foreign investment, which includes further opening the biopharmaceutical sector and facilitating the faster market entry of innovative drugs.

"China's opening-up measures make it very advantageous for us to keep growing here and continue serving this incredible market," Pusic said. ■