AstraZeneca Expands R&D Presence in China with New Hong Kong Research Center

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Enterprise News】From introducing innovative drugs, emphasizing production and manufacturing in China, to continuously increasing investment in R&D in China, this can be said to be a major trend and significant change in the strategic layout of multinational pharmaceutical companies in the Chinese market. This is closely related to the rapid development of China's pharmaceutical market.
 

November 24th, AstraZeneca held the unveiling ceremony for the establishment of its R&D center and Innovation Park in Hong Kong. It is reported that the R&D center established by AstraZeneca in Hong Kong will focus on drug research and development in key areas such as cell therapy and gene therapy. The Hong Kong iCampus is an incubation platform that assists startups in related fields to expand their businesses. It will collaborate with universities, research institutions, and technology parks in Hong Kong to promote innovative research in key therapeutic areas, which is also of great significance for expanding Hong Kong's life science and health technology ecosystem.
 

In fact, there were early signs that AstraZeneca would establish a research and development center in Hong Kong. At the end of September this year, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region introduced a talent attraction plan, welcoming companies to bring their research talents to Hong Kong. At that time, AstraZeneca indicated that after detailed discussions with the relevant office, it already had plans to set up a research and development center in Hong Kong and would follow up with relevant departments for further consultations. Now, about two months later, this plan has been officially confirmed.
 

From AstraZeneca's 20-year strategic layout in the Chinese market, during its first decade in China (1993-2003), faced with a situation of drug shortages for patients in China, AstraZeneca initiated a "new drug introduction" development strategy. This mainly involved introducing treatments for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, effectively meeting the therapeutic needs of patients in China.
 

Later, during the ten years from 2003 to 2013, AstraZeneca began to focus on production and manufacturing in China. As a result, it invested in building a production and supply base in Wuxi for manufacturing solid oral formulations and intravenous injections, and another production and supply base in Taizhou for manufacturing solid oral formulations.....
 

At the same time, with the rise of China's pharmaceutical science and technology R&D capabilities and the successive introduction of policies to encourage new drug development, AstraZeneca has also begun to invest in the construction of R&D centers in China. For example, in 2002, AstraZeneca announced global multicenter clinical research in China; in 2007, AstraZeneca invested in establishing the China Innovation Center in China.
 

(2013-2023) In another decade, AstraZeneca has not only increased its R&D investment in China but also accelerated the international alignment of its R&D and the construction of an innovative ecosystem. Focusing on R&D in China, AstraZeneca has made a series of significant moves over the past ten years, including: establishing the China New Drug Research and Development Department in 2013 to support the clinical development and market launch of its innovative drugs in China; in 2015, MedImmune, AstraZeneca's global biopharmaceutical R&D organization, "joined hands" with WuXi AppTec; in 2019, AstraZeneca announced the upgrade of its China New Drug Research and Development Department to become AstraZeneca’s Global R&D China Center, continuously accelerating the synchronization of global R&D.
 

It is reported that, as of now, AstraZeneca has introduced nearly 40 innovative drugs to China, covering areas such as oncology, respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, metabolic, gastrointestinal, and rare diseases. AstraZeneca also anticipates that over 15 new drugs will be launched in China by 2030. Additionally, AstraZeneca's R&D pipeline in China includes more than 180 projects, fully synchronized with key projects in the global R&D pipeline. Within the next five years, it is expected that 80 new drugs and indications will be approved in China. China has become one of AstraZeneca’s most valued and significant markets.
 

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