China's vigorous efforts to accelerate innovation in the healthcare industry have further strengthened Pierre Fabre's confidence in expanding its presence in the Chinese market, said the French pharmaceutical giant's CEO.
Pierre Fabre Laboratories has signed a deal with China's leading drug distributor Sinopharm to advance the commercialization of the company's anti-cancer drugs. This is the first deal in the Chinese mainland since the appointment of Pierre Fabre Medical Care's new CEO Marie-Andree Gamache. The milestone signing ceremony in Shanghai marked Gamache's third visit to China this year.
"China, we've seen in the last few years, has really accelerated the access to innovative medicine, the development of innovative medicine. So it's by far a country that we prioritize both from a patient access and an innovation standpoint. The reason we did it this time is really because we have one of our new drugs that got an approval which is a targeted therapy for treatment of colorectal cancer, and we expect an approval coming soon as well in lung cancer. So we're really at that pivotal moment. So we needed a partnership that's going to allow us to really ensure that these drugs can be accessed by Chinese patients," Gamache told China Global Television Network (CGTN) at Pierre Fabre's Shanghai office.
The latest collaboration came after the fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) adopted the Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development in the 2026-2030 period.
"The 15th Five-Year Plan is really important for us and it's important, I think, as an industry, because it really focuses on the acceleration of innovative medicine and that's something we all want from, again, the vision of Healthy China 2030, but also from a company standpoint, it's what drives our growth, it allows us to bring new medicines to patients in China. So for us, the 15th Five-Year Plan in China is really critical with that focus on accelerating innovative medicine," Gamache said.
Looking ahead, the businesswoman said she is confident that the competitive innovation capacity in China will present more opportunities for Pierre Fabre to partner with global biotech firms.
"When I look at the expansion plan, it continues to be China for China. It's our investment in R and D. If I look at the next five years, China is to accelerate significantly in our R and D footprint. I came for a roadshow to meet with biotechs. There is not China for China, but it's actually China for the world, trying to see how the innovation is accelerating in China and where Pierre Fabre and China biotech can partner together. So again, we can answer the patient needs in the market. So for us, it's really these two approaches -- this China for China and this China for the world that is really the expansion that we see in the next few years," said Gamache.
China's innovation efforts strengthen Pierre Fabre's confidence in expansion: CEO
