AstraZeneca signs bevy of agreements at CIIE

Global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca displays its products at the fourth China International Import Expo, held from Nov 5-10 in Shanghai. [Provided to China Daily]

Multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has joined government, industry, academia and investment institutions at the ongoing fourth China International Import Expo to usher in a new round of signings promoting a healthcare ecosystem.

The company and other parties will build a multi-level innovation model in different fields by deepening construction of a holistic disease management ecosystem, assisting the development of regional collaborative innovation, promoting the introduction of global innovative treatment solutions into China, supporting Chinese innovations to go global, and advancing "internet plus" healthcare.

For instance, it joined with the Boao Lecheng pilot zone of international medical tourism to jointly promote the accelerated introduction of innovative drugs for treatment of cancers and rare diseases, as well as to carry out research cooperation on the development of internet hospitals in China.

AstraZeneca, the pilot zone and Daiichi-Sankyo (China) Investment signed the "Hainan Strategic Cooperation Agreement on the Innovation of Antibody-Drug Conjugates" at the CIIE. They will promote pilot cooperation on innovative anti-tumor drugs, including DS8201, a new HER2-targeting antibody-drug conjugate and many other urgently needed imported drugs, as well as real-world policy advancement research and real-world data application experiments in the pilot zone with the Boao Medical Innovation Institute for breast cancer and other diseases to accelerate the introduction of innovative cancer drugs worldwide into China.

They will combine the use of innovative drugs to provide innovative diagnostic and therapeutic solutions to meet the clinical needs of a wider range of Chinese patients, explore innovative commercial insurance and payment models in-depth to improve the accessibility of innovative drugs and treatment methods for patients, so as to provide more professional and convenient healthcare services for Chinese patients, AstraZeneca said in a press release.

AstraZeneca and the administration of the pilot zone also deepened their cooperation and signed a strategic agreement on the use of innovative drugs for rare diseases, to further promote the early use of innovative drugs for rare diseases, support the introduction of more innovative drugs for rare diseases and the establishment of rare disease diagnosis and treatment centers, actively implement innovative payment plans for rare diseases and explore real-world studies for rare diseases to make drugs for rare diseases accessible both abroad and in China.

The company has also announced a long-term strategic partnership with Kowa Pharmaceuticals (China) and was granted the exclusive rights to promote Kowa's Kalimate on Chinese mainland.

AstraZeneca and Bio Island Company announced at the expo they would co-build an innovation park to accelerate GIBI's efforts on creating a world-leading R&D center for biopharmaceuticals and biosecurity. In addition, more than 10 innovative enterprises and two partners joined the International Life Science Innovation Campus (iCampus). With a number of industry-university-research cooperation projects launched, iCampus is expected to bring more wisdom to life sciences through the cooperation of all sectors in the industry chain.

At the expo, AstraZeneca also joined with the governments of Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province, Chengdu in Sichuan province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province, Wuxi and Yixing in Jiangsu province, and Beijing to hold sessions on biopharmaceutical industry promotion and exchanges at the regional biopharmaceutical industry cooperation booth, providing a comprehensive government-enterprise communication platform covering official policy interpretation, comprehensive industry introduction and round-the-clock resource matching and negotiation, thus further facilitating regional government-enterprise cooperation.

During the event, AstraZeneca has been emphasizing local innovation and strengthening cooperation with local biopharmaceutical companies. It signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Biocity, an innovative drug company focusing on the treatment of oncology and immune diseases. The two companies will carry out strategic cooperation in R&D, medical and registration matters.

AstraZeneca also held a meeting on the digital healthcare partnership ecosystem and entered into a strategic partnership with online healthcare services providers such as Ping An Health, TenCent Health and Baidu Health to jointly develop tailored and home-side digital healthcare applications.