Leon Wang, executive vice-president, international and China president at AstraZeneca says he is confident about the development prospects of China’s economy and its open investment environment. — AP
BEIJING: A series of initiatives taken by various departments across the country to continuously optimise the business environment have provided strong support for foreign companies to develop in the nation, says Leon Wang, executive vice-president, international and China president at AstraZeneca.
The global pharmaceutical company is very confident about the development prospects of China’s economy and its open investment environment, Wang added.
Thanks to the effective pandemic control measures in China, the manufacturing and supply network of the nation have recovered speedily, which enabled AstraZeneca to continue providing world-class “Made in China” medicines to nearly 70 markets globally, he said.
AstraZeneca’s total revenue performance in the third quarter of 2022 reached US$1.54bil (RM6.73bil), up 8% year-on-year, according to an announcement from the company.
The company is expected to continue to pursue high-quality innovations in research and development (R&D) so as to strengthen the strategic role of Chinese innovation globally with key R&D synchronisation rates projected to rise from 90% in 2022 to 100% in 2023, according to Wang.
The number of R&D institutions of foreign-funded pharmaceutical enterprises in China reached 483 in 2020, an increase of 48 over 2019 with the expenditure of R&D institutions reaching 14.91 billion yuan (RM9.6bil), an increase of 0.9% over 2019, said the Report on Foreign Investment in China 2022, citing data from the China Statistics Yearbook on High Technology Industry.
AstraZeneca will also continue to work with its partners to explore innovative medical product development pathways in China to help the growth and adoption of new and original Chinese medicines, in line with the strengths of the Chinese market and economic resilience.
China has become one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and health markets and, AstraZeneca is not only bringing new drugs into China, but also taking new Chinese drugs to the world, contributing to China’s high-quality development, Wang said. — China Daily/ANN
