Against a backdrop of China’s rapid economic growth, sharp increases in funding, improvements in medical outcomes and evolving demographics, the Chinese healthcare and pharmaceuticals markets have seen rapid advances over the past decade.

Learn more about UK-China collaboration in healthcare and biosciences at the UK-China Business Forum 2024 on 20 March. Click here to register

China’s healthcare market is now the second-largest in the world. Total revenue was estimated to be around RMB 10 trillion (approx. £1.09 trillion) in 2021, and the “Healthy China 2030” initiative, one of the government’s main blueprints for developing the healthcare industry, has set out an aim for the market to reach RMB 16 trillion (approx. £1.75 trillion) by 2030.

This growth, along with China’s sophisticated digital infrastructure, has laid a fertile ground for innovation in healthcare and life sciences.

The UK has a unique health and life sciences ecosystem, and its track record of scientific breakthroughs serves as a driving force for the next generation of life-changing treatments, technologies and services. Recent developments in China’s healthcare sector, including newly published regulations in central procurement and public hospital reform, have made the international business environment even more competitive for international businesses operating in healthcare and the life sciences. Despite growing competition internationally, the UK maintains a competitive position in China’s healthcare cooperation agenda.

The challenges facing the healthcare sector in China provide many potential opportunities for UK organisations. For example, China’s rapidly ageing population will need to be supported by innovative pharmaceutical and biotech solutions, as well as robotics and AI. Sales of home healthcare devices for older adults have already shown an increase during Singles’ Day in recent years, as have sales of dietary supplements and cosmetics with ‘anti-ageing’ properties. Indeed, many experts recommend that the best solutions to the problems of ageing are found much earlier in life, creating a need for innovative products that prevent chronic illness caused by environmental and lifestyle issues.

It is for this reason that, over the past decade, UK-China collaboration in healthcare has received unprecedented support from both governments, as well as leading companies in the industry. For example, in 2017, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the British Council launched the UK-China Health and Economy Partnership, a higher education programme to promote knowledge sharing and research innovation in health economics between leading British and Chinese experts and institutions.

During the UK-China Business Forum 2024, a panel of experts will discuss how UK businesses are innovating and partnering in the Chinese market and how competition is driving healthcare forward in one of the world’s most dynamic economies. The panel includes Mark Hedley, Deputy Head of Investment Promotion at InvestHK; Sue Welburn, Vice Principal of Global Access & Professor of Medical & Veterinary Molecular Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh; and Elinor Greenhouse, Senior Adviser, Tech and Innovation at the China-Britain Business Council (moderator). Click here to register.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

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At the opening ceremony of International Biopharma Industry Week Shanghai on 11 October, CEO of AstraZeneca, Pascal Soriot, announced the inauguration of its newly-upgraded global R&D centre. As reported by Yicai Global, at the ceremony Soriot said that the new centre has introduced “state-of-the-art technologies and expanded our R&D team to reflect [its] increasing importance within our global network.” The centre will not only bring innovative new medicines to China, but will speed up R&D and clinical trials of new medicines for China and abroad.

Speaking at the same event, Dr He Jing, senior vice president and head of R&D China, said: “Our R&D pipeline in China currently has more than 120 projects under development, of which more than 85% are being developed simultaneously with our global pipeline… This year, we have established a translational medicine team and a digital and data innovation team, and the overall number of R&D personnel has increased by more than 20% year-on-year.”

Alongside the upgraded R&D centre, AstraZeneca has also launched the Shanghai International Life Science Innovation Campus (also known as the Shanghai iCampus), which aims to bring together academic and industry resources to help Chinese and international startups in the fields of Medical AI and digital therapy.

The inauguration of AstraZeneca’s R&D centre comes at a time when the Shanghai government is putting an emphasis to make the city a world-class hub for the biopharmaceutical industry. As China.org reported, in May 2021, the municipal government issued a three-year action plan aiming to boost the annual output of the biopharma industry to RMB 180 billion.

A couple of months later, the Central Committee and the State Council issued another set of guidelines supporting the high-level reform and opening up of the Pudong New Area in Shanghai, including corporate income tax reductions of 10% (down to 15% from a universal rate of 25%) for the first five years following business registration for companies in key industries like biopharma. The guidelines also give a boost to science and technology research, exempting research institutions from import duties on research equipment.

AstraZeneca first entered the Chinese market in 1993 and has since become the largest multinational pharmaceutical company in the country, with its headquarters in Shanghai and regional headquarters in cities including Beijing and Guangzhou. China is not only AstraZeneca’s second-largest market, accounting for USD 5.4 billion of sales in 2020, but also a key destination for its research and innovation. Since the 1990s, the company has invested more than USD 1 billion in R&D, and developed eight new medicines in cooperation with partners in China.

The post AstraZeneca Makes Shanghai a Global R&D Centre appeared first on Focus - China Britain Business Council.