AstraZeneca Officially Launches Eastern China Headquarters to Advance Digital Healthcare Innovation Hub

HANGZHOU, July 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, AstraZeneca, a globally leading biopharmaceutical company, announced the official opening of its East China Headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, marking another milestone in its efforts to deepen its overall strategy in China and expand its innovative healthcare ecosystem. With strong support from the governments of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou Municipality, and Gongshu District, the East China Headquarters will be anchored in the Yangtze River Delta region and will comprehensively oversee business operations and management across eastern China, including Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangxi. Leveraging Zhejiang's robust digital economy foundation and Hangzhou's prominent advantages in e-commerce, new retail, mobile healthcare, and internet industries, the headquarters will actively explore the application of digital technologies in the healthcare and wellness sector and pioneer innovative business models, collaborating to establish a premier hub for digital healthcare innovation in China.

On that day, government officials from Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou Municipality, and Gongshu District, alongside Wang Lei, Global Executive Vice President and President of International Business and China at AstraZeneca, Lai Minglong, General Manager of AstraZeneca China, Huang Bin, Vice President of AstraZeneca China and Head of Corporate Affairs and Market Access, and other senior management team members of AstraZeneca China, as well as partners from industry, academia, research, healthcare, and investment sectors, jointly attended the inauguration ceremony to participate in and witness a series of related unveiling and signing ceremonies. Leveraging the local strengths of the digital economy industry and harnessing the synergistic development advantages across provincial, municipal, and district levels, AstraZeneca will rapidly scale up its business operations, accelerate the incubation of its innovation center model, and advance the construction of its innovation park, further opening a new chapter of capital-empowered industrial development.

AstraZeneca China Eastern Headquarters Officially Opens

Synergizing Government and Enterprise Strengths, Focusing on Industrial Ecosystem Incubation

Drawing on its proven strengths in innovative new drug R&D and its successful experience in building a healthcare innovation ecosystem, AstraZeneca and the Hangzhou Municipal Government have reached a series of important consensus and cooperation plans on jointly fostering a healthcare innovation ecosystem and accelerating the upgrading of the medical industry. Among these initiatives, the life sciences innovation incubation platform jointly developed by the Hangzhou Municipal and Gongshu District Governments and AstraZeneca -- the Hangzhou International Life Sciences Innovation Park (iCampus) -- has officially launched, welcoming its first batch of five resident enterprises to begin operations, including Shenzhi Technology, Zeqiao Health, Yijiayi, Yaocheng Technology, and Pashanhu Academy. Additionally, nine other emerging enterprises, including Huiyi Tianxia, Zhongruifuning, Julu Medical, Zunyi Intelligence, Huizhong Respiratory, Youyong Industry, Niuquxing, Yongliu Technology, and Zhong'an International, have signed letters of intent with the park and will accelerate their development under its incubation program. Meanwhile, the Hangzhou International Life Sciences Innovation Park and the Swedish healthcare incubator H2 (Health Hub) also signed a cooperation agreement on the same day. Leveraging H2’s expertise in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and its track record in innovative incubation, this partnership will further facilitate the park’s international expansion and promote a dual circulation of domestic and global innovation.

In recent years, AstraZeneca has not only leveraged its advantageous domestic and global resources to elevate the healthcare ecosystem, but also actively accelerated capital bridging to provide comprehensive empowerment and support for high-quality healthcare innovation enterprises. On the day of the regional headquarters' inauguration, the AstraZeneca-CICC Healthcare Industry Fund simultaneously announced the signing of a cooperation intention with municipal and district-level government guidance funds in Hangzhou. Hangzhou High-Tech Venture Capital and Hangzhou Gongshu District Industrial Investment plan to jointly participate in the cooperation with the AstraZeneca-CICC Healthcare Industry Fund. Through the tripartite collaboration of government, industry, and investment, the parties will jointly promote the innovative development of China's healthcare industry. This partnership also marks the fund's further deepening of its regional footprint. In the future, the fund will provide full-cycle empowering support, from R&D to commercialization, for innovative healthcare enterprises in their incubation and growth stages.

AstraZeneca East China Headquarters

Driving the Incubation of New Digital Healthcare Models, Smartly Embracing Future Opportunities

Driven by multiple variables such as policy initiatives, technological iteration, market evolution, and the impact of the pandemic, digital technologies are reshaping the future of the healthcare and wellness industry. The unveiling of the Digital Healthcare Innovation Center today stands as a testament to AstraZeneca’s ongoing explorations in this field. During the event, the Digital Healthcare Innovation Center signed partnership agreements with 12 ecosystem enterprises, including Omron Healthcare (China), Gerui Health, Zhenfu Health, Donglan Trade, Julu Medical, Chison Medical, Deepwise Medical, Xinhongmei Medical, Shanwo Medical, Bairui Medical, Qingdao Future, and Haha Medical, to jointly advance the development of specialized digital healthcare segments in the Yangtze River Delta region. Concurrently, AstraZeneca welcomed Neptune Chains into the Digital Healthcare Innovation Center to empower the company in building a "Smart Pharmacy." Closely aligned with patient needs, this collaboration integrates in-hospital and out-of-hospital resources, aiming to provide more comprehensive medication access channels and holistic management for multiple diseases and overall health, thereby establishing a new benchmark for pharmaceutical retail. Furthermore, the China Smart Healthcare Innovation Center secured a strategic partnership with a key fund collaborator—the CITRIS (China) Institute at UC Berkeley (in preparation). This alliance will leverage combined strengths in biomedical innovation to drive mutual growth. The establishment of the Digital Healthcare Innovation Center complements the "China Smart Healthcare Innovation Center" launched in 2017, both committed to developing innovative integrated diagnosis and treatment models within the Yangtze River Delta.

Additionally, the "General Practice Digital Healthcare Incubation Center" was also unveiled on the same day. Leveraging the high-quality general practice resources in the Yangtze River Delta region, the center will establish a real-world database centered around the "Digital Chronic Disease Early Screening Center," the "Digital Chronic Disease Management Center," and the "Digital Translational Research Center," to create a new model that empowers community healthcare with advanced technologies. This initiative will enable community-based and home-based digital healthcare services to truly meet the needs of grassroots populations, ultimately forming a nationwide, integrated digital healthcare ecosystem network in the field of general practice.

Strategic Layout Tailored to Local Conditions, Regional Development Fulfilling a Long-Term Commitment to China

The establishment of AstraZeneca China Eastern Headquarters marks the second rollout of its China regional headquarters strategy this year. In late May this year, AstraZeneca China Northern Headquarters, located in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, was officially launched as the first initiative.

The China Regional Headquarters Strategy is a future-oriented development blueprint proposed by AstraZeneca in 2019 to actively respond to the major trend of coordinated regional economic development in China. Wang Lei stated: "Zhejiang boasts a strong foundation in the digital economy. In particular, Hangzhou, as a benchmark city for China's digital economy, has already achieved fruitful results in exploring medical innovation by concentrating on three distinctive sectors: new drug R&D, medical devices, and medical data. As a pioneer demonstration zone for Hangzhou's digital healthcare industry, Gongshu District has created a highly favorable policy environment and comprehensive industrial support services for AstraZeneca, providing strong backing for our collaboration with various partners to jointly build a 'patient-centric' healthcare industry innovation ecosystem. In the future, AstraZeneca will continue to channel high-quality resources to grassroots levels, stimulate regional industrial synergy and innovation potential, leverage its bridging role as a leading multinational pharmaceutical enterprise, and actively promote the development of the regional economy and the dual-circulation economy. We are fully committed to supporting Hangzhou in becoming a globally influential hub for the digital healthcare industry."

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca (LSE/STO/Nasdaq: AZN) is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development, manufacturing, and marketing of prescription medicines, with a primary focus on three major therapeutic areas: oncology, cardiovascular, renal & metabolism, and respiratory & immunology. Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries, and its innovative medicines benefit millions of patients worldwide. For more information, please visitwww.astrazeneca.com。

# About AstraZeneca China

Since entering China in 1993, AstraZeneca has adhered to a science-led approach and emphasized innovation to meet the growing healthcare needs in China, realizing its ambitious vision of "pioneering innovation to benefit patients and become China's most trusted healthcare partner." AstraZeneca's China headquarters is located in Shanghai, with regional headquarters established in Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou, and Chengdu, employing nearly 20,000 people across China. The company has invested in manufacturing bases in Wuxi and Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, and established its China logistics center in Wuxi. In China, AstraZeneca's business focus is primarily concentrated on therapeutic areas with the most pressing patient needs, including respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic, oncology, gastrointestinal, and renal diseases. In 2017, the China IoT Healthcare Innovation Center was launched in Wuxi, dedicated to exploring innovative IoT-based integrated diagnosis, treatment, and whole-course disease management solutions. In the same year, AstraZeneca and SDIC Innovation formed a joint venture, Dizal (Jiangsu) Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., to accelerate local innovative drug R&D. In 2019, AstraZeneca announced a partnership with Wuxi to co-establish the Wuxi International Life Science Innovation Park, pooling global expertise to benefit patients in China. Also in 2019, AstraZeneca announced the establishment of its Global R&D China Center in Shanghai and the creation of a global healthcare industry fund. In 2020, AstraZeneca announced its support for the "Internet Hospital" initiative.