Leif JOHANSSON: Importance of Primary Healthcare …

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Leif JOHANSSON

Member, BFA Council of Advisors

Chair of the Board of Directors, Astra Zeneca PLC

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of building the capability and capacity of primary healthcare in agriculture and rural regions. In China, strengthening the primary healthcare system by dedicating more resources to promote the well-being of rural populations is one of the top priorities of China’s national healthcare reform in recent years. We are excited to be a part of the positive changes in the modernization of the primary healthcare in China.

*This expression does not reflect the views and position of the BFA.

Q

For enterprises, how to strike a balance between their own economic interests and public interests? How to help enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to get out of the distress and stabilize employment after the epidemic?

Leif JOHANSSON: Economic globalization has become an irreversible historical as well as mainstream trend of global development. We need cooperation among countries to jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind, to overcome grave challenges and bring well-being to the world. The global outbreak of COVID-19 has exerted a profound impact on public health. As a responsible corporate citizen, since the outbreak of the epidemic, Astra Zeneca has responded quickly and continuously provided support for epidemic prevention and control.

For example, AstraZeneca has established a partnership with the University of Oxford to jointly develop a COVID-19 vaccine. Globally, we and our partners have released for supply over 2.7 billion doses of our COVID-19 vaccine to more than 180 countries to date. Approximately two-thirds of the doses have gone to low- and lower-income countries.

In China, Wuxi Biologics is one of AstraZeneca’s key suppliers for our vaccine. It is producing the active ingredient for approximately 50% of our supply to COVAX which will be distributed globally. Furthermore, we have transferred our vaccine technology free of charge to BioKangtai in Shenzhen, enabling almost 30 million doses to be sup- plied worldwide, including Indonesia.

Our long-acting antibody Evusheld for the prevention of COVID-19 has been granted emergency use by the FDA in the U.S. We hope to introduce this in China to benefit patients who are unable to get vaccinated.

Looking ahead beyond the pandemic, we will work to further drive innovation, increase our investment in China and deepen our collaborations with local enterprises. The China Commercial Innovation Center (CCiC) that was jointly led and built by AstraZeneca will enable us to engage local companies and support the implementations of innovative holistic disease management solutions.

In addition, we are supporting small and medium-sized Chinese life sciences companies, to bring to life their innovative ideas through our incubation platform iCampus in seven regions across China. Meanwhile, the AZ-CICC Global Healthcare Industrial Fund will work to enable the development of small and medium-sized enterprises through the support of capital markets.

As a leading multinational pharmaceutical company in China, AstraZeneca has the responsibility to join hands with partners across sectors, take the lead in building a healthcare innovation ecosystem, drive the development of regional economies in China, and play a positive role in promoting China’s high-quality development.

Q

China has accumulated rich experiences in poverty eradication and modernization of agriculture and rural areas, which experiences can be shared with other Asia countries?

Leif JOHANSSON: The economic situation of China’s agriculture and rural populations have improved greatly in recent decades due to China’s policies of reform and opening up. However, due to factors such as industrialization, aging population, ecological environment, and lifestyle changes, the population increasingly faces threats of multiple diseases. For example, some patients in rural regions are still experiencing the difficulties of poor access to quality medical care and medicines. Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of building the capability and capacity of primary healthcare in agriculture and rural regions. In China, strengthening the primary healthcare system by dedicating more resources to promote the well-being of rural populations is one of the top priorities of China’s national healthcare reform in recent years.

As early as 2017, AstraZeneca has set up a dedicated team to serve the agriculture and rural populations. We also established a business unit last year to further explore diversified channels that can help connect the “last mile” between high-quality medical resources and patients in the county and rural regions so that they can have equal access to the high-quality and comprehensive medical services and drugs.

To further meet the growing healthcare needs of these patients, AstraZeneca has also strengthened our cooperation and investment in county hospitals, township health clinics, digital healthcare, retail pharmacies, e-commerce platforms, and Internet hospital platforms. By making full use of digital tools such as artificial intelligence, 5G, and the Internet to support grass-roots disease education and chronic disease management, we can make intelligent and high-quality healthcare services and solutions more widely available to all.

We are excited to be a part of the positive changes in the modernization of the primary healthcare in China. AstraZeneca will continue to foster an innovative healthcare ecosystem with cross-sector partners, and focus on the full cycle of life science and the comprehensive disease management for patients in China. We will bring together global wisdom to drive local innovation and incubation, strengthen the cornerstone for people to have higher quality of life, and empower the realization of“Innovation Chi- naan“Healthy China”.

亚洲浪潮，博鳌视野

立足亚洲 面向世界

传递论坛最新动态 促进亚洲深度合作

全球重要对话的传达者 亚洲共同发展的瞭望者

原标题：《Leif JOHANSSON: Importance of Primary Healthcare Highlighted》

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