Text/Reporter Chen Zeyun from Yangcheng Evening News/Image provided by interviewees
In the New Year of the the Year of the Loong, Guangdong, Shandong, Liaoning, Gansu and other provinces held "the first meeting of the Spring Festival" on the first working day after the Spring Festival holiday. All regions gathered new consensus and took new measures to firmly promote high-quality development around the development of new quality productivity, deepening high-level opening up and other aspects.
"The Chinese economy is moving towards high-quality development, which is an important contribution to the high-quality development of the world economy." Jean Christophe Pointeau, Senior Vice President of Pfizer Global and President of Pfizer China, expressed his optimism about the Chinese market in an interview with the Yangcheng Evening News.
In his view, the efforts and achievements made by the Chinese government have further strengthened the confidence of enterprises from around the world to strengthen trade and investment cooperation with China. 2024 is also the 35th year for Pfizer to enter the Chinese market. Pfizer will strive to promote local innovation and global synchronization, so that Pfizer's innovative products can benefit patients as soon as possible.
Pfizer China will fully enter the global R&D pipeline
At the beginning of the 2024 New Year, Pfizer announced that the new generation of specific migraine treatment drug, Letaike (Rimezepam orally disintegrating tablets), has been approved by the National Medical Products Administration of China for the acute treatment of migraines in adults with or without aura. This drug has already been approved for market by the US FDA and the EU EMA. After entering the Chinese market, it will also bring new treatment options to a wider range of migraine patients.
In fact, before officially opening the door to the Chinese market, Lotte had already implemented a "trial and error" policy in some regions. At the beginning of 2023, Letaike landed in the Boao Lecheng Pilot Zone in Hainan, and in October, it entered the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area through the "Hong Kong Macao Medical Equipment Connect". As of the end of 2023, more than 600 migraine patients have received treatment through the pilot trial policy in Boao and the Greater Bay Area of Hainan.
The principle of "trial and error" is a microcosm of China's increased high-level opening-up to the outside world. "For many years, we have deeply felt that China is gradually promoting a more open and inclusive development environment, striving to tighten the mutually beneficial cooperation bonds, and constantly strengthening the innovation driven development path." Jean Christophe Pointeau said that as one of the earliest foreign-funded pharmaceutical companies to enter the Chinese market, Pfizer has witnessed the rapid development of the Chinese market economy and personally felt the continuous optimization of the Chinese business environment. The government has led a series of reform measures, revised and expanded the Catalogue of Industries Encouraging Foreign Investment, strengthened pharmaceutical services, and continuously optimized the drug review and approval process, greatly improving Pfizer's level of industrial layout and operation convenience in China.
At present, Pfizer has brought more than 80 innovative products and leading medical solutions to Chinese patients. As of January 2024, Pfizer has a total of 112 projects under research worldwide, covering clinical phase I to registration and application, involving fields such as oncology, internal medicine, vaccines, inflammation and immunity, rare diseases, etc.
Jean Christophe Pointeau stated that Pfizer's China R&D center plans to achieve China's All In in key phase III and registration applications for the entire product line within the next five years. By 2027, China will participate in all key phase III clinical trials and requires global R&D teams in various treatment fields to always include China in Pfizer's global first batch of new product application regions, ensuring synchronous submission of the entire product line in China.
Deepen cooperation in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area
In 1989, Pfizer established a factory in Dalian and officially entered China. 35 years later, Pfizer's business in China will cover more than 300 cities nationwide, accelerating its embrace of the Chinese supermarket with a population of 1.4 billion.
This year, coinciding with the 5th anniversary of the release of the Development Plan for the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, Pfizer has also paid more attention to this open investment hotspot.
According to Jean Christophe Pointeau, Pfizer has established partnerships with multiple cities and institutions in the Greater Bay Area since last year. During the 6th China International Import Expo in 2023, Pfizer signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Real World Research Institute of Jinan University, focusing mainly on real world research projects and related academic exchanges, exploration of real world data applications, pharmaceutical economics research, and multi-level coverage of innovative drug research topics.
In addition, Pfizer has also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Resources Guangdong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The two sides will jointly explore future cooperation opportunities in the field of "Hong Kong Macao Device Connect" and promote the early launch of innovative drugs in China.
In November of the same year, Pfizer China signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with the Guangzhou Municipal People's Government, focusing on key areas of the biopharmaceutical industry. The two sides will cooperate in research and development innovation, achievement transformation, talent cultivation, and other areas to promote the development of the biopharmaceutical and medical health industries in Guangzhou.
In Jean Christophe Pointeau's view, the Greater Bay Area, as a gateway for China's opening-up, holds a unique strategic position. In addition, the introduction of the latest measures such as the "Three Year Action Plan for the Construction of an International First Class Business Environment in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area" will undoubtedly accelerate the development of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area into an internationally first-class and fertile land for domestic and foreign investment and development.
"In the future, Pfizer will continue to deepen its cooperation with the Greater Bay Area, so that Pfizer's innovative products can benefit patients as soon as possible," said Jean Christophe Pointeau.