As China has secured major strategic achievements in COVID-19 response, 2021 not only marks the beginning of the 14th Five-year Plan, but also is the historic crossroad of the “Two Centenary Goals”. At present, development of vaccines and effective drugs has become a key point in resuming the economy and COVID-19 prevention and control. Key words like “health”, “innovation”, and “cooperation” have also become the focus of the whole world’s attention.
In 2020, we paved the way for scientific & technological innovation with “Four Orientations”, marking that “oriented towards people’ health” has reached an all-time high. Pharmaceutical innovation is of crucial importance for improving people’s health. In the next five to ten years, chronic diseases like cancers, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, and respiratory diseases will impose heavier burdens on people. The COVID-19 outbreak again reminds us that infectious diseases will pose a long-lasting threat. Therefore, improvement of the prevention and control level of cancers, chronic diseases and infectious diseases will improve the health of all people, and this is also a key entry point for the innovative drug industry to facilitate the objective of “Healthy China 2030”.
In order to fulfill the objective of Healthy China and improve the innovation ecosystem of the pharmaceutical industry in China, taking the opportunity of the Two Sessions, heads of RDPAC’s 24 multinational pharmaceutical companies in China, on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry, called upon the government, businesses, universities, and research institutes to cooperate, improve relevant policies and strengthen their implementation from diverse areas and to bring practical benefits to patients in China:
1. The innovative drug industry will continue acting as an important partner in achieving the goal of “Healthy China”.
We should continue practicing the “patient-centric” concept of value, focusing on the treatment areas of Chinese patients, providing high-quality products and services, and working out end-to-end solutions for patients.
Taking preventive means, therapeutic means and groundbreaking researches as three key tasks in improving health, the innovative drug industry can reduce the disease burden by about 55%, and help to achieve the goal of “Healthy China”.
2. The innovative drug industry still faces great challenges from patients’ accessibility.
Innovative drugs are restricted by the accessibility of drugs and policies about medical insurance. Many drugs can only be accessible to a fraction of potential patients after obtaining the approval. It still remains a big problem that the patients cannot use or afford the drugs.
Advancing the reform of medical services, medical insurance and the medicine industry, strengthening the coordinated relationship between drug evaluation and approval, medical insurance payment, and clinical application, making drugs more accessible, and further increasing people’s sense of gains are an important task in the next step.
3. China’s pharmaceutical ecosystem has stepped in 2.0 Era, and we are on the way to build a sustainable pharmaceutical innovation ecosystem.
From 2015 to 2020, China’s pharmaceutical innovation ecosystem preliminarily took shape, the pharmaceutical innovation industry developed rapidly and integrated with the global innovation industry chain. At present, China is at a major historical juncture to transform from a large manufacturer of drugs to a pharmaceutical innovation powerhouse. We need to stand high and look far, build on the existing achievements, and realize higher quality development based on deeper reforms and higher level opening up and international cooperation.
In the next five years, China will focus on three key points in developing the pharmaceutical innovation ecosystem: One is to improve the competitiveness of the pharmaceutical innovation industry with “marketing of new drugs” at the core. The second one is to make innovative drugs more accessible in terms of “patient benefit”, increase the investment in health care, improve the fund use efficiency, and make greater gains from capital investment and alleviate the huge burdens from diseases, especially cancers, chronic diseases and infectious diseases by using the innovative drugs with a higher clinical value, improving people’s health, and strengthening the early diagnosis and prevention of diseases. The third one is to ensure the industrial sustainability with “returns from innovation” as the core, guarantee the investment in research & development, and bring more benefits to patients with more disruptive innovations.
Let’s hear the “Two Sessions’ Voice” of 24 heads of multinational pharmaceutical enterprises in China (in no particular order).
Under the new normal, innovation and collaboration have become more significant and more critical than ever. To counter the drastic changes and challenges which are upon us, Xian Janssen fully utilizes its expertise and innovation in the domains of public health and severe diseases, devoting our efforts to help the government, patients, physicians, and partners solve a variety of complex medical challenges.
Since entering the China market in 1985, Xian Janssen has been dedicated to changing the trajectory of human health. Taking public health for example, besides exploring solutions to COVID-19, Xian Janssen has been a committed partner in the efforts to combat MDR-TB, contributing to the goal of “End TB in 2035” in China. With an eye on continuing development into the future, Xian Janssen has been working on expediting the introduction of innovative medicines and enhancing access to healthcare solutions in therapeutic areas with urgent unmet needs, bringing changes to more patients’ lives. For now, Xian Janssen has launched 62 medicines in China, of which 52 were added to NRDL, reflecting our relentless support for improving access to healthcare.
Last year, the world has witnessed the Chinese government’s extraordinary capability in combating COVID-19 and promoting the optimization of the public health system. We look forward to the Two Sessions in 2021, and we believe the Two Sessions would serve to further motivate the development of the healthcare industry in China. We will continue expanding collaboration with the Chinese government and other partners for the welfare of people’s health through our support for the public health system, contributing to the implementation of the “Healthy China” initiative.
In recent years, thanks to the deepening of healthcare reform and accelerated review and approval of new drugs, we have seen more and more innovative drugs introduced to China, allowing Chinese people to have access to innovative drugs as early as possible. China’s innovative measures to improve affordability for patients have significantly alleviated the economic burden on medical care. All the efforts not only brought real benefits to Chinese people, but also enabled fast growth of those pharmaceutical companies, which actively participated in these developments.
We always believe that it is the common responsibility of pharmaceutical companies in China to improve the availability, affordability, and quality of drugs. As we all know, research and development of innovative drugs involves huge investment, long cycles, and high risks. As an innovation-driven pharmaceutical company, Roche invests around 20% of its annual sales in R&D, with annual expenditures of up to US$12 billion (about RMB 80 billion). Only by protecting and rewarding R&D achievements and ensuring sustainable development of innovative companies, there will be a continuous stream of breakthrough innovations to benefit more patients. In the future, we look forward to working with various partners to explore innovative payment mechanism, jointly advance a multi-layered healthcare security system, and further improve patient access, to contribute to the Healthy China initiative.
As the Chinese government continues to strengthen the construction of the country's public health system, the accessibility and affordability of medicines for Chinese patients have been continuously improved. Merck is greatly inspired by this improvement. Guided by the Healthy China 2030 Planning Outline, we hope to continue working with all parties in the healthcare industry to explore diversified payment methods and to improve multi-channel funding mechanisms, especially taking commercial insurance as a strong complement to increase the affordability of high-quality innovative drugs and to achieve the goal of improving the multi-layered medical security system, further enhancing medicines accessibility in China.
Merck is very optimistic about the Chinese healthcare market potential and will continue its investment in China. Through the local supply chain and facility, we keep ensuring the patients’ fast accessibility to high-quality medicines and healthcare services. At the same time, united ‘As One for Patients’, we will continue to explore beneficial, feasible and affordable pathways for patients along our vision ‘transform 40 million Chinese patients’ lives by 2025’ .
2020 was an extraordinary year, and 2021 will be a new journey!
It is of great significance that the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) negotiations in 2020 included innovative drugs that were marketed in the same year. 2021 will be a new start. AbbVie, one of the world's top 5 biopharmaceutical companies, will expedite the processes necessary to bring more breakthrough innovative drugs into China. Our aim is to benefit patients with these therapies as soon as possible, under favorable medical insurance policies.
As an industry leader, AbbVie concentrates our efforts on a core set of therapeutic areas, especially in immunology and hematology/oncology—ones where we’ve proven our expertise, and where we see there are critical unmet needs. By investing in R&D, our goal is to advance science and deliver better solutions to patients. Last year, we launched an innovative drug that represents a groundbreaking milestone in the treatment of AML in recent decades in China. We look forward to seeing it listed in the NRDL as soon as possible so that more AML patients can see the hope of survival. In 2021, we are dedicated to bringing more innovative treatments for multiple diseases, such as atopic dermatitis, with the hope to address the urgent clinical needs among adolescent and adult patients. We remain committed to driving meaningful acceleration in the launch of global innovations in China and their NRDL listing.
We look forward to the Two Sessions in 2021, and eagerly anticipate strengthening a Healthy China at "China speed”, once again. We believe that NRDL will play a fundamental role in a Healthy China by strategically and efficiently approving innovative drugs that patients urgently need. We look forward to working together with the Chinese government to achieve the great goal of Healthy China 2030.
The healthcare industry is one of the pillar industries in national economy related to people's livelihood and welfare. AstraZeneca expects the government to continue accelerating the review and approval of new drugs, and provide policy support for the early development and incubation of more local and global new drugs in China.
Meanwhile, we also see that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of the healthcare industry. Thus, we hope that the government can encourage enterprises to keep exploring the combination of healthcare services with high-tech including IoT, AI, big data and 5G, as well as boost the development of telemedicine, promoting online consultation, prescription and dispensing. In addition, we expect the government to further improve the public health system and establish primary screening and treatment strategy for chronic diseases and cancer, benefiting a wider range of patients with online-and-offline combined medical services.
For over 30 years, Baxter has been committed to the mission of “saving and sustaining lives”. As part of this commitment, Baxter has strongly established itself in China, bringing its innovative spirit to the Chinese healthcare industry and providing patients with smarter and more affordable medical products and services that better address their needs.
In light of the current challenges in chronic disease management and an aging society in China, Baxter has actively responded to government authorities’ call for “strengthening community-based health services”, promoting a series of innovative practices to benefit more patients. Such practices include a tiered system of disease diagnosis and treatment model optimization of peritoneal dialysis for end-stage renal disease, extension of peritoneal dialysis technology to community medical institutions, as well as the development of “Internet plus Healthcare”.
With the government’s continuous encouragement of innovation, Baxter will continue to leverage digital technology to promote the innovation and improvement of supervisory and management around drug safety in China. In addition, the company will improve the accessibility of medical services and drugs via digital platforms, and explore innovative medical business and service patterns. We are committed to growing together with the healthcare industry and supporting China to realize the vision of “Healthy China 2030”.
With the aim of securing the dynamic market and leading the future with “intelligence”, on this occasion of the ‘Two Sessions’ 2021, Baxter looks forward to collaborating with the industry to help Chinese people stay healthy and lead lives full of possibilities.
Both in China and at Bayer, we all have gone through the past unprecedented 2020. In 2021 the first year of the "14th Five-Year Plan", we look forward to continuously contribute our core competencies in the fields of healthcare and agriculture for empowering people to live a better life, while supporting China to enter a new stage of high-quality development through advanced innovation and cooperation. This is our commitment to the country, in reflection of Bayer’s vision of “Health for All, Hunger for None”.
Echoing China’s great efforts on deepening healthcare reform, Bayer consistently accelerates the introduction of innovative drugs to the country while expanding strategic collaborations with partners. We are dedicated to leveraging our expertise and competence to offer more high-quality and innovative treatments to Chinese physicians and patients. Bayer is increasing its investment in drug research and development to explore full potentials of emerging biological technologies and digital revolution, aiming to deliver breakthrough innovation and integrated healthcare offerings to benefit patients, thus contributing more to the country’s "Healthy China 2030" strategy.
Boehringer Ingelheim is committed to improving patients’ access to innovative drugs. We strive to enable more Chinese patients to benefit from our innovative drugs as early as possible. As the first multinational pharma company to fully engage China in global early clinical research, we are advancing the launch of innovative products in China concurrently with Europe and the United States, or even earlier, thanks to a raft of measures and policies in China to quicken new drug reviews and approvals. In recent years, several of our innovative drugs have been added into the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) through negotiations, which means that economic burden on patients will be significantly reduced through joint efforts by the government and our company. We hope that China will promote and implement policies to foster pharma innovation during the 14th Five-Year Plan period via creating a transparent, fair, and sustainable environment. On top of spurring innovation, efforts need to be made to protect innovation results, especially the legitimate rights and interests in the patents of original drugs, so that innovative drugs can be rewarded with reasonable commercial returns, so as to better benefit patients.
China has achieved remarkable results in preventing and controlling the pandemic, but the COVID-19 is not over yet. Boehringer Ingelheim will continue to work closely with all partners, including those from China, to identify healthcare solutions in order to curb the pandemic.
Benefitting from China healthcare reform and the government’s increasing focus on innovation, a large number of innovative medicines, including the world’s first PD-1 inhibitor, saw their introduction into China accelerated. As a leading biopharma company, BMS shares the same vision with the Chinese government to improve the accessibility of innovative medicines and help patients prevail over serious diseases. Globally, BMS is the world’s number one biopharma company in oncology and hematology, and have strong presence in immunology. We plan to accelerate to introduce nearly 30 innovative products or indications to China in next 5 years, mostly with great potential to become first-in-class or best-in-class.
We will continue to support the building of multi-level medical payment system with government, payers and third-parties, including proactively supporting local supplementary health insurance and private health insurance, so as to enhance patient access to innovative medicines. Meanwhile, we will fully support government to further enhance the access scheme with scientific evidence based decision making system, increase healthcare investment and encourage innovations, with the aim of enhancing patient access to innovations and supporting the realization of Health China 2030.
In the 30 years of development in China, we have always been putting the interests of patients first, accelerating the launch of innovative drugs and new indications, and trying our best to improve the accessibility and affordability of drugs, so as to satisfy Chinese patients and their families’ demand for high-quality drugs, with practical actions to practice the “hhc” (human health care) corporate philosophy. As a multinational pharmaceutical company in China, we have been committed to global R&D cooperation and international experience, and actively explore localized solutions to continue to contribute to the Healthy China. We believe that innovation and cooperation will help the Healthy China, and we will further make greater contributions to China's medical and health industry.
Business environment saw constant improvement in China, further enhancing confidence of MNCs long-term development in China. While epidemic prevention and control has become the norm, Lilly continued our “In China For China” philosophy to accelerate introduction of innovative medicine to China, improve accessibility of innovative medicines for patients, and aid the consistent healthy development of China’s economy. Lilly will continue to be a firm supporter of China's healthcare reforms, put high priority on patient benefit, and improve accessibility of Lilly’s innovative medicines, reduce medical cost of the society, and improve life qualities for Chinese patients.
At this year's Two Sessions, we propose and hope to see the following implemented in the context of the strategic objectives of the Healthy China 2030 Plan:
Further enhance regulatory reform and encourage pharmaceutical innovation, further improve accessibility of innovative oncology medicines. Further optimize business environment and access policy of innovative medicines, allow innovative medicines urgently needed by patients to be included in medical insurance wasting no time. Eliminate barriers for innovative medicines to reach hospitals and bring real benefit to patients in need of innovative medicines.
As a company with a profound history that is "in China, for China," Lilly will seize the opportunities for innovation and collaboration generated by the new "dual circulation" strategy. We are ready to work with partners across the industry to help introduce global innovative medicines into China at a faster pace.
‘Healthy China 2030’ acknowledges the importance of reproductive health education and the decline of maternal mortality rate from 18.0 in 2020 to 12.0 by 2030. Concentrating on reproductive medicine and maternal health, Ferring Pharmaceuticals entered the China market more than 10 years ago and upholds the philosophy of ‘In China, for China’. Ferring continues to demonstrate our commitment in China by investing in our Zhongshan manufactory site; partnering with China Academy of Sciences on the Ferring Institute of Reproductive Medicine to foster global scientific research exchange and local innovation; introducing innovative treatment to benefit Chinese patients, and engaging with local companies to explore R&D and business development opportunities. Our mission is to help Chinese families fulfill their dreams of having healthy babies through one stop solution from pre-conception to birth.
Ferring is truly inspired by the Chinese government’s act in prioritizing its citizen’s health above all else during the COVID-19 pandemic. Doing our part to actively support the government and its citizens, we will strengthen partnership with multiple stakeholders and explore innovative models which improve treatment accessibility and uplift patient experience and treatment effectiveness. For example, we aim to explore options for easing the payer’s financial burden through co-pay mechanism among commercial insurance, charitable funding and patients. Ferring is devoted in continuing our advancement and safeguard reproductive health of Chinese families. Through our actions, we strive to increase birth rate, prevent preterm delivery and lower maternal mortality rate.
Over the past year, GSK has been actively working with local and global partners to provide patented vaccine adjuvant systems, identify innovative treatment options and facilitate the global development of COVID-19 vaccines. At the same time, we have also accelerated research on the antibody for the virus to contribute to the global campaign of fighting against the pandemic. Thanks to China’s achievements in COVID-19 prevention and control, our three innovative products successfully entered China’s National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL), and several other innovative drugs/indications were included in the national priority review and approval list.
In the wake of the NPC and CPPCC sessions, we applaud and anticipate the continued endeavors by Chinese government on innovative drugs and vaccines for severe, chronic and infectious diseases, accelerating the evaluation and registration innovative drugs, and improving access of clinical treatment. We’re looking forward to minimized drug lag versus abroad under evolving policies, to facilitate quick access of Chinese people to the innovative healthcare solutions.
In addition, we’d be happy to see increased support of Chinese government in digital medical services, by encouraging the in-depth integration of medical services and digital technology, effectively alleviating the unbalanced distribution of high-quality medical resources, and helping tackle the “last mile” of healthcare delivery.
Ipsen has rooted in China for 28 years since 1992, witnessed China’s resolution and achievement of medical and healthcare reform. The unexpected COVID-19 has highlighted the strong resilience of China’s healthcare system. As people’s health and wellbeing is closely related to the health awareness of preventive care, Ipsen has actively responded to the call of the country, putting disease prevention and consumer’s health management awareness at a important position. Ipsen has achieved a strategic cooperation with local enterprises in order to benefit more patients. Ipsen is committed to contributing more to China’s medical and healthcare services.
In the meantime, Ipsen makes innovation for patient care, and injects 15% of the sales volume in research and development each year, while making unceasing efforts to explore into innovative medicines and treatments. Guided by the “Healthy China 2030” strategy, Ipsen devotes itself to delivering innovative, effective and convenient medical solutions to rare diseases, oncology and other critical illnesses, making medicines more affordable and accessible to patients in order to improve the quality of patients’ life.
Ipsen helps make medicine more accessible to patients with rare diseases. Ipsen has strengthened the management on chronic diseases by launching several digital patient management projects, improved treatment compliance and focused on the personalized treatment of patients, including the long-term management project of PC patients and standardized the testosterone management of prostatic cancer and actively on disease awareness of cancer prevention and treatment.
The pandemic has impacted everyone both physically and mentally. It is important now more than ever to continue to raise the awareness, reduce the stigma and improve the treatment of mental-health disorders like major depressive disorder (MDD). (For instance, despite COVID-19, with the strong support from site investigators, Lundbeck completed a large- scale real world study in MDD patients on time. The study provided high quality evidence-based data to support clinical practice in MDD patients.) We would like to work with key stakeholders including government, clinical experts, companies and media partners to advocate for mental health and make contributions to the “Healthy China” action plan.
Moreover, in China brain disease brings a heavy burden to patients, their families and the society. We urge that all parties work together to improve the accessibility and affordability of innovative drugs for brain diseases. For example, Lundbeck is committed to accelerating the introduction of innovative drugs including the treatment for migraine prevention in China. In addition, we have been expanding our market coverage. Together with our partners, we have focused on expanding our coverage into the broad market. We’ve also been adopting innovative ways and leveraging digital platforms to further improve patients’ access to drugs.
As one of our four pillars of growth, the Chinese market is important to the success of MSD globally. The most important measure of success is to ensure Chinese patients have access to the inventions, to help save and improve lives. The government has implemented healthcare reform which has driven faster regulatory approvals, expanded the list of drugs covered under national reimbursement, and strengthened intellectual property rights for innovators.
In the forthcoming “14th Five-Year Plan”, we look forward to continued expansion of healthcare access to support Healthy China 2030. Building an ecosystem of private industry that can complement and support the reimbursed market will help to ensure more citizens can broaden their options for treatment and application of new, innovative drugs and vaccines. We at MSD look forward to supporting these and other efforts to make sure no patients are left without medicines, treatments, or vaccines.
China has been accelerating the review and approvals of new drugs while updating the NRDL regularly in recent years, contributing to a pro-innovation environment. We look forward to even more optimized policies for drug reviews and approvals. This will enable synchronization for more innovation drugs coming into the global and China markets, and even the achievement of “first globally” in China for as many drugs as possible, greatly benefiting Chinese patients. Encouraged by this, Novartis expects to bring about 30 new drugs and new indications to China within five years.
We look forward to the increasing support of the Chinese government for new drug development and strengthened IPR protection with a more mature, comprehensive and predictable IPR system, so that pharmaceutical companies can make investments more boldly to develop better novel medicines for patients.
Medical services and quality have garnered unprecedented attention from the public as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to the increasing support of the Chinese government to boost medical services and investment, further promote the digital transformation of the healthcare sector and improve disease management.
Novartis stands ready to join hands with all stakeholders to drive collaborative innovation, improve the standard of care, bring better quality of life to patients, extend their lives and contribute to a healthy China.
In the post-epidemic era, China's steady economic recovery boosts confidence for global recovery. At the same time, China has given top priority to improving the people’s health. And the comprehensive deepening of healthcare reforms will drive the continued growth of China’s pharmaceutical market. This further strengthens our confidence and commitment to the Chinese market.
2021 sets the beginning of China's 14th Five-Year Plan. The strategic deployment of "promoting the construction of a healthy China" will undoubtedly support the further development of healthcare industry and continuously improve people’s health. Novo Nordisk will continue to work with partners to promote awareness, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes as well as improve self-management and enable more patients achieve early diagnosis, early treatment and better outcomes, so as to achieve the targets of Healthy China 2030.
2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, which saved thousands and millions of patients lives. For nearly a century, with a strong focus in diabetes care, and our innovation has never stopped. Nowadays, there are more than 129 million people with diabetes in China. To address the unmet medical needs, Novo Nordisk will enhance our local presence covering the whole value chain and accelerate innovation and expand cooperation, to better serve patients in China and contribute to the sustainable medical and pharmaceutical innovation ecosystem.
2021 is the first year of China's 14th Five-Year Plan. Ambitious, health-related themes including “Advancing Healthy China 2030" have been prioritized. 2021 also marks the advent of the new Pfizer. We enjoy a history of more than 170 years, and are entering a new era, in which we are leaning more deeply into our identity as a science-based, innovative, patient-focused biopharmaceutical company. We do more than just treat diseases - we help to cure and prevent them.
At the same time, our purpose - breakthroughs that change patients’ lives-- has never been more relevant. For us, innovation involves not only R&D to introduce innovative drugs and vaccines to the world, but also partnering with stakeholders to drive better healthcare and increased access for patients. This includes work to advance healthcare solutions that leverage innovative technologies and partnerships to advance innovative forms of payment.
Pfizer will increase its investment in R&D to support innovative drugs and vaccines, and will leverage our global resources to accelerate the introduction of more innovative products to meet China's unmet clinical needs. We will also continue to strengthen our cooperation with the government to support China as it builds a multi-layered medical security system that improves accessibility to, and affordability of, innovative drugs and vaccines for Chinese patients.
Although the virus continues to seriously challenge countries around the world, we believe that in the end, science - which relies deeply on global collaboration - will win. Pfizer will work with Chinese government and all relevant stakeholders to help meet the goals of Healthy China 2030.
China lies at the core of Sanofi’s global strategy and is a key pillar for our future growth. Our reflections are as follows:
We see that the Chinese government is gradually optimizing the market access policy for innovative medicines. Hainan Lecheng and the Greater Bay Area have now introduced policies for the first trials of innovative drugs. We look forward to a broader implementation of such policies which meet the fast-growing medical needs of Chinese patients, as well as help accelerate the approval of innovative medicines. Benefiting from the favorable policy, in 2020 alone, Sanofi’s six new products were approved or launched to China.
Promoting the digital transformation of the healthcare industry, particularly in chronic disease management. Sanofi has advanced an internet-based chronic disease management model for patients. Leveraging such digital and integrated approaches, we aim to reverse the spread of chronic diseases in China with the joint efforts of all partners.
Further improve the protection system for patients with rare diseases beyond the current more province-based approach - to set up an incremental special fund and introduce a government-led and multi-party payment mechanism to support rare diseases patients.
Further deepen the vaccination rate to reduce the epidemic risk of vaccine-preventable diseases. Sanofi is building China's first world-class vaccine innovation center in Shenzhen to expand vaccination accessibility, ultimately supporting China’s public health system as a trusted partner.
We can see that ensuring and improving people's livelihood is always the starting point and ultimate goal of the Chinese government. Over the years, through drawing up and implementing various policies and measures including the medical system reform, China has significantly improved overall level of people's health and the quality of life.
Foreign pharmaceutical enterprises have joined hands with local Chinese enterprises by giving full play to their own advantages, to make joint efforts for the improvement of the people’s health and enhancement of the healthcare level in China.
During “Two sessions”, I hope that delegates can have in-depth discussions on how foreign pharmaceutical companies can actively participate and contribute to medical innovation and new drug admission, so that more Chinese patients could be able to have access to new and better quality drugs in time. The accessibility and affordability of patients can also be enhanced. In addition, international companies can exchange their outstanding experience and expertise with their Chinese counterparts to improve China’s overall medical ecosystem.
Santen will adhere to an open and win-win attitude and look forward to cooperating with all partners of society to advance the development of ophthalmology ecosystem and make concerted efforts to promote "Healthy China 2030”.
The results of China Mental Health Survey (CMHS) showed that the number of patients with psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia in China may have reached 10 million. The national plan for "Healthy China 2030" also includes promoting people's mental health, aiming for a significant improvement in early detection and management of psychological and behavioral disorders as well as the prevention and treatment of commonly-seen mental diseases by 2030.
Holding onto a "patient-centered" philosophy, Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., together with Charity Foundation, has organized numerous activities to support the families with children of psychotic parents, offered scholarships for young psychiatrists, and held disease education activities on the topic of psychiatric disorders among college students, making its effort to help realize this grand goal of "Healthy China 2030".
With the corporate vision of "continuously creating new values and contributing to the healthy and happy lives of Chinese people”, Sumitomo is committed to the development of China's healthcare system. We will continue to promote the simultaneous research, development, and marketing of innovative new drugs or first-in-class drugs while ensuring constant supply of marketed ones, with the hope of us making a difference in Chinese people’s health and well being.
2021 marks the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan period and an important milestone to foster the Healthy China Initiative in an all-round way.
The Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan particularly highlights that China will create a sound, multi-tiered social security system. The country aims to develop a fair, unified, sustainable multi-tiered social security system that covers all people in urban and rural areas. As a healthcare company, Takeda is committed to bringing our best-in-class and/or first-in-class innovative medicines and life-transforming treatments to China. Meanwhile, we also support the various policies and reform measures by Chinese government to further advance the health care system, especially for life-threatening diseases such as cancer and rare diseases. Apart from our continuous efforts on patient assistance programs, we will actively participate in government-led medical insurance initiatives, and collaborate with key stakeholders to explore more innovative medical insurance schemes, aiming to improve the access and affordability for Chinese patients.
With a well-designed top-level framework, we firmly believe that the payers, social forces, and individuals/families will be fully motivated. An advanced social security system will be structured where everyone participates, contributes, and benefits so that more innovative medicines and life-transforming treatments will benefit Chinese patients.
During COVID-19, multinational R&D-based pharmaceutical companies demonstrated extraordinary innovation and collaboration capabilities to bring urgently needed medicines, vaccines and devices to patients and healthy people across the globe at warp speed. This is a testimony that "Inspired by Patients, Driven by Science" principles can deliver impacts to individual health and humanity. Over the past years, Chinese government successfully reformed policies allowing China to fully participate in and even lead global pharma R&D. The rapidly growing digital healthcare ecosystem has brought improved patient experience and better outcomes. Multinational R&D-based pharmaceutical companies will ride the wave to accelerate innovation across the entire biopharmaceutical value chain, taking advantage of China's unique strengths for digital transformation. We aspire to join hands with the government and society to overcome challenges in patient access, treatment and pay for innovation. Together, we will create a world-leading and sustainable biopharmaceutical industry in China.
