Zhou Hong, President of Roche Pharmaceutical China: Full confidence in the potential of the Chinese market and the prospects for economic development

(The third CIIE) dialogue with Zhou Hong, President of Roche Pharmaceutical China: Full of confidence in the potential of the Chinese market and the prospects of economic development

China News Service, Beijing, November 9 Title: Dialogue with Zhou Hong, President of Roche Pharmaceutical China: Full of confidence in the potential of the Chinese market and the prospects for economic development

Author Liu Liang

Data chart: Medical equipment and medical care exhibition area is the third session of the Expo is the most "hot" exhibition area, more than 300 exhibitors, more than 70 are the world's top 500, industry leading enterprises. Among them, 90% of the world's top 500 pharmaceutical companies came to participate in the exhibition. Photo by Tang Yanjun

Under the epidemic situation, economic globalization is facing the challenge of countercurrent, is China's global market attractiveness in the eyes of foreign investors? Zhou Hong, president of Roche Pharmaceutical China, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Agency recently that since the outbreak of the epidemic, China has overcome many unfavorable factors and achieved a double victory in fighting the epidemic and restoring social and economic development, which makes foreign-funded enterprises, including Roche, full of confidence in the potential of the Chinese market and the prospects of economic development.

Openness: Innovation is a key word in China

"The first multinational pharmaceutical company to stay in Shanghai Zhangjiang", "the first R&D center established in emerging markets", "the first R&D center established by multinational pharmaceutical companies in Shanghai"... Roche's confidence in China stems from the company's deep "friendship" with China over the years. As a global medical company, Roche has been working in China for 26 years since entering the Chinese market in 1994, and has experienced the development of China's economy over the years.

Zhou Hong said in reviewing the past relationship between Roche and China that China's economic and social development has provided fertile ground and impetus for the company's growth. In recent years, as China has continued to improve the business environment for foreign investment and expanded its opening up, China's global investment position in Roche has further improved.

In October 2019, the Roche R&D Center was upgraded to the Roche Shanghai Innovation Center, which Zhou Hong said is also the third largest R&D strategic center in the world after Roche's headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, and San Francisco, USA. At present, more than 90% of the researchers engaged in drug discovery and early clinical development in the innovation center are Chinese local scientists; more than 50% of the invention patents of the center have been authorized in China, the United States, the European Union and so on.

With the deepening of local innovation, Zhou Hong said that Roche will explore more local cooperation opportunities, and look forward to more innovative drugs developed by China in the future to the world, and Chinese talents can also appear on the world stage.

Confidence in China's potential and prospects

In the face of the complex and severe international situation, Zhou Hong said that China has played the role of "fixing the needle of the sea god" in its efforts to maintain the stability of the international industrial chain supply chain, which has further enhanced Roche's confidence in the Chinese market and economy.

Zhou Hong said that thanks to the efforts of China to resume work and production in an all-round way, innovative drugs such as Roche Herseley and Tai Shengqi have been approved and smoothly introduced into China during the special period of the epidemic, basically synchronized with Europe and the United States, and continue to bring good news to Chinese patients.

Zhou Hong pointed out that China is currently the second largest pharmaceutical market in the world. In recent years, with the improvement of people's living standards, the health awareness and medical care needs of the whole society have been continuously strengthened, which has further promoted the development of the health care industry and at the same time promoted the growth of GDP.

"China's stable economic growth has laid the foundation for safeguarding people's health, scientific and technological innovation has provided strong support for improving health, and more mature systems in all aspects have built a strong guarantee for sustainable development in the field of health." Zhou Hong said.

Zhou Hong believes that the rapid development of China's information technology and digital economy also provides a good opportunity for the development of the health market. "'Internet + medical', wearable device applications, to a certain extent, alleviate the problem of uneven distribution of medical resources, improve the accessibility of high-level, high-quality medical products and services, and further broaden the depth and breadth of China's health market."

Digital transformation of healthcare is a must of the times

"A new crown pneumonia epidemic, while pressing the pause button on the global economy, has also made everyone aware of the importance of health. At the same time, there is an unprecedented high demand for pharmaceutical innovations, such as genetic testing, new drugs and vaccine research and development. When talking about the impact of the epidemic on the global medical industry, Zhou Hong believes that challenges and opportunities coexist.

Zhou Hong pointed out that in the post-epidemic era, the acceleration of digital transformation will set a bellwether for the transformation of the pharmaceutical and health industry, and digital application is no longer an option, but a must-answer item.

As the "Elder of the Three Dynasties" of the China Ciie Expo, Roche has the world's leading professional strength in managing, integrating and analyzing health big data, and has practical experience in successfully using big data at all stages of the industrial chain. At this year's Expo, Roche also unveiled a variety of innovative products and innovative achievements, covering major diseases such as tumor immunotherapy, influenza, hematological tumors and rare diseases.

In the critical stage of the in-depth digital transformation of the health industry, Zhou Hong hopes to share the digital experience of global application with China through the Expo, support the digital transformation and upgrading of China's medical and health industry, and boost China to become a leader in the high-quality development of the global health industry. (End)

Source: China News Network