On November 6, 2021, as a parallel supporting event of the 4th China International Import Expo (CIIE), the 4th Hongqiao International Health Technology Innovation Forum with the theme of "Innovation for Good Health" was successfully held. This forum was sponsored by the International Health Exchange and Cooperation Center NHC PRC (IHECC) and China Pharmaceutical Innovation and Research Development Association, undertaken by Shanghai Biopharmaceutics Industry Association, Fosun International Limited and Fosun Pharma, and supported by Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization, Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality and Shanghai Municipal Medical Products Administration.

The forum brought together leaders and expert representatives from the government, industry, clinical and scientific research institutions and investment community. In this forum, global cutting-edge health science and technology achievements and development trends were focused on, in-depth exchanges and discussions were conducted on hot topics such as local pharmaceutical innovation and internationalization in China, and the path to healthy China was jointly explored, so as to contribute Chinese wisdom to the global health.



Sharing Policy Opportunities
Domestic Pharmaceutical Innovation Enters the Fast Track

The year 2021 marks the beginning of the 14th Five-Year Plan. In this year, the construction of "Healthy China" has risen to the national strategic level. As one of the key industries supported and developed by China, the biomedical industry has ushered in significant development opportunities and challenges.

He Jinguo, Director-General of the Department of Finance of the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, said that the continuous emergence of emerging and emergency infectious diseases has brought new challenges to maintaining and improving people's health. In order to do a good job in innovation in the field of healthcare in the new development stage, He Jinguo proposed the following methods: First, adhere to centering on people's health and adhere to promoting health equity; secondly, strengthen exchanges and cooperation between the industry, university, research and user to jointly serve the needs of the country; thirdly, adhere to a scientific attitude and opening and sharing, and work together to build a global community of health for all.

Gu Honghui, Deputy Secretary-General of Shanghai Municipal People's Government, pointed out that the guidance and support of scientific and technological innovation are essential to the battle against COVID-19, and innovation is indispensable to solving people's livelihood problems. Shanghai has a sound and developed industrial system in the field of medicine and health. Innovative drug enterprises and competitive enterprises are gathered in there, and a number of great innovative products fill gaps in the related field. Shanghai will deepen the implementation of the national strategy from many aspects, build an industrial innovation highland with international influence, and build a world-class biomedical industrial cluster.

International cooperation is a booster for the development of Chinese medicine and biotechnology industry. Fu Daxu, President of Shanghai Biopharmaceutics Industry Association, said that in order to achieve long-term sustainable development and truly realize the "from 0 to 1" in basic R&D, Chinese biomedical industry must meet the following requirements: Take innovation as the driving factor, align with the international standards and continuously introduce new technologies; moreover, focus on strengthening cooperation with universities, scientific research institutions and medical institutions, so as to further enhance innovation ability.

Post-Epidemic Era
Global Cooperation Promotes Spread of "Chinese Innovation" to the World

There is still a long way to go in the prevention and control of epidemic. Global medical science and technology has witnessed accelerated innovation and the importance of science and technology in the fight against the epidemic has become more and more prominent. Gao Fu, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in his video speech that when community transmission caused by imported cases becomes normalized, the key to more scientific and accurate suppression is strong grassroots public health prevention and control. He called for vaccine sharing globally to unite in the fight against the epidemic; and also called for focusing on investment in science, especially in the microbiological field.

Professor Zeng Guang, a famous expert in epidemiology and public health, reviewed the three stages of prevention and control of epidemic in China. He attributed the achievements in domestic prevention and control to the national system. At present, the epidemic prevention and control tests the comprehensive capabilities of national vaccine R&D, storage, distribution, vaccination, etc., and China still needs to establish the best vaccine combination for sustainable development.

In this race against the virus, global pharmaceutical companies have worked together to achieve innovative breakthroughs in the rapid R&D, clinical trial, approval and emergency use of COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic drugs. Chen Qiyu, Co-CEO of Fosun International, said: "Under the epidemic, the speed of R&D and approval of COVID-19 vaccines and drugs has taken a qualitative leap compared with before, which is also a new turning point in global biomedical technology. "

Chen Qiyu said that after the tempering of the epidemic, we have entered the post-epidemic era; from clinical R&D, review and approval, manufacturing to transportation and supply, the global medical market is forming a new collaboration mechanism, and China will also become an important participant in the whole chain of global innovative drug R&D. "The CIIE brings together global innovative technologies and is an important platform for exchanges and collaboration. This is the fourth time that Fosun has participated in the exhibition this year and Fosun has benefited a lot from the exhibition. I hope that Chinese enterprises will continue to improve their level of innovation in such exchanges, achieve more high-level global collaborations, and jointly contribute to the development of global biomedicine. "

"The advent of vaccines has shown the world how humanity has written the history of the medical community using science and technology and efficient global collaboration." In a video speech, Wu Shaxin, BioNTech CEO and co-founder, said that BioNTech has provided more than 1.8 billion doses of vaccines for about 150 countries and regions around the world, and it is still crucial to get the vaccine to as many people as possible. mRNA technology has the advantages of great plasticity, fast R&D speed, short production cycle, suitability for booster immunization, etc. The results of a recent Phase III randomized, controlled vaccine booster trial showed that the vaccine showed more than 95% efficacy and good safety during the period when the Delta variant spread most violently. This also shows that vaccination with boosters can play an important role in preventing the further spread of epidemic and helping restore normal life.

At the same time, scientific research innovation has led to the improvement of the level of medical technology, has also enhanced the team of talents and promoted the overall improvement and development of disciplines, and then promoted the overall improvement and development of the hospital. Fan Jia, Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences and President of Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University, said that the outstanding performance of large public hospitals in the epidemic is the result of the reform and development of China's public hospitals in recent years. In the future, it is necessary to lead the high-quality development of public hospitals through medical science and technology innovation, and use scientific research innovation to drive the overall improvement of medical level, talent training and discipline construction.

Aligning with International Innovation
Contributing "Chinese Wisdom" to Global Health

Under the intertwining of the century-old changes and the epidemic of the century, how to integrate Chinese wisdom and innovation with global innovation so as to contribute to global health has become an important issue. At the meeting, under the presidency of Feng Lan, Secretary-General of the China Pharmaceutical Innovation and Research Development Association, Wu Fan, Vice President of Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University and President of Shanghai Institute of Major Infectious Diseases and Biosafety, Shen Wenjiang, Lifelong Honorary Professor and Chief Physician in Department of Radiation Oncology of Peking University Health Science Center and Chairman of the Radiation Therapy Branch of Standardization Administration of the PRC, Wu Xiaobin, President and Chief Operating Officer of BeiGene, He Jing, Senior Vice President of Global Cancer R&D and President of Global R&D China Center of AstraZeneca, Liang Jin, Managing Director and Head of Pharmaceutical and Medical Industry Group of China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC), Wu Yifang, Chairman and CEO of Fosun Pharma, and other experts in the fields of industry, university, research and investment discussed the normalization of epidemic prevention and control and high-quality international innovation and cooperation.

Under the epidemic, global COVID-19 vaccine R&D and pharmaceutical innovation have attracted attention. China's vaccine R&D stands on the front line of the world, and while rapidly building the Great Wall of Immunization in China, it has also sent an immune barrier to many countries in the world. At the same time, China's scientific, precise and rapid epidemic prevention measures have also provided experience for the global fight against the epidemic.

The speed of vaccine R&D in China reflects the speed of China's pharmaceutical innovation. With the support of policies, new R&D enterprises are constantly emerging, forming an upsurge of innovation in China's pharmaceutical industry. Some experts said that for Chinese pharmaceutical enterprises, active promotion by the government and building up R&D, technology and talent reserves by enterprises are required for innovation.

At the same time, the epidemic has highlighted the importance of international cooperation. Under the call of building a global community of health for all, China promotes the high-level development of pharmaceutical innovation, and also lets China's pharmaceutical innovation and the world share opportunities together. The participants also expected that China's originality will promote the advancement of world medicine, and greatly improve the accessibility and affordability of medicine to patients worldwide.

On the same day, under the guidance of the relevant departments and bureaus of the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, the IHECC and Fosun Pharma joined hands to launch the signing ceremony of the "Health Demonstration Project for Rural Revitalization". In the future, the two sides will actively explore public welfare paths, create a "health demonstration project for rural revitalization", take the capacity building of rural doctors and the improvement of grassroots medical service capabilities as the starting point, carry out work based on the practical needs of key groups such as the elderly and children in rural areas, and explore experience that can be replicated and promoted nationwide.