SHANGHAI, Nov. 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- At the first China
International Import Expo, Sanofi, the world's leading healthcare
company, said during the China
Health Road Symposium, that with Innovation, Partnership and
Commitment as the three key words, it will strive to introduce the
innovative drugs and vaccines exhibited at the import expo to
China as early as possible. The
company will collaborate with its partners to allow these new drugs
to benefit Chinese patients, with a focus on covering a large
number of community health centers and county hospitals, as it
delivers on its commitment to cater to the health needs of
China's people.
Innovation: story behind the approval of a rare-disease drug
just before the expo
At today's China Health Road Symposium, Sanofi introduced how
the six innovative drugs and new vaccines displayed at the import
expo (see the attachment) were developed. One of the
"behind-the-scenes stories" received significant attention:
Aubagio, a new rare-disease drug, was launched just prior to the
import expo.
Aubagio is the first oral new drug for the treatment of multiple
sclerosis in China. Multiple
sclerosis is a rare disease, which usually begins between the ages
of 20 and 40, and is 1.5 times to twice as common in women as in
men. It casts a heavy burden on patients and their families. In the
past, it usually took a few years for an original new drug to go
through all application processes to get listing approval. In
May 2018, multiple sclerosis was
included on the "First List of Rare Diseases" in China. Thanks to the new policy support, it
set a record for the fastest launch of a rare-disease drug in
China.
Jean-Christophe Pointeau, Country
Chair of Sanofi China, said: "We sincerely thank the Chinese
government for its determination and effort to accelerate the
approval of innovative drugs, and we pay tribute to all experts,
especially healthcare practitioners, for their consistent support.
We will gear up the introduction of innovative drugs and vaccines
in China, and catch up with
Europe and the United States in the listing schedules to
benefit as many Chinese patients as possible."
Partnership: next stop is primary care
Debuting these new drugs at the import expo is just the first
step. At today's symposium, Sanofi joined hands with its partners
to explore how to enable medicines, vaccines and services to
benefit Chinese patients and people, especially covering community
health centers and county hospitals.
At the symposium, representatives from the China Preventive
Medicine Association, the Association of China County Hospital
Presidents, and county-level health bureaus shared their own
stories and feelings about being the "county-level health
gatekeepers."
Kong Lingzhi, Vice President of the Chinese Preventive Medicine
Association, said: "Promoting the tiered diagnosis and treatment
system is a top priority in China's ongoing healthcare reform. One
important goal is to ensure rural residents are able to get their
critical diseases treated within the counties that they live; 90
percent of all diseases should be controlled within counties."
Feng Shiqiang, vice director of the Association of China County
Hospital Presidents, said that the association is helping county
hospital presidents to learn from each other's experience in
healthcare reform, while revving up efforts to develop disease
centers in such areas as chest pain and stroke. China now has chest pain centers in thousands
county hospitals, thus forming a national network of first aid and
long-term disease management for patients with chest pain. Patients
no longer need to go to hospitals in large cities, and the system
has significantly shortened the time before patients get treated
with higher efficiency, lower mortality and improved prognosis.
As the first multinational pharmaceutical enterprise to elevate
county-level primary healthcare through a dedicated primary care
business unit in 2011, Sanofi is actively responding to the call of
the central and local governments, collaborating with industry
societies and associations in a wide range of areas. One
outstanding example is: it teams up with the Stroke Prevention
Project Committee under the National Health Commission and the
Association of China County Hospital Presidents to jointly build a
national network for the prevention and control of stroke and chest
pain.
Commitment: Remain in China,
for China
Apart from building a presence in county-level hospitals, Sanofi
is also paving the "Health Road" in thousands of community health
centers across the country.
At the symposium, Professor Zhu
Shanzhu, Director of the Department of General Medicine,
Shanghai Medical School, Fudan
University, and Song Jianling, a general practitioner at the
Changfeng Community Health Service Center in Shanghai's Putuo District, joined hands with
their patients to share inspiring stories about GPs and
families.
Prior to the import expo, Sanofi launched the China Health Road
Program with the support of its headquarters. The program targets
primary care in China, with a
package plan to provide long-term training for GPs, including the
first phase of six projects. By 2020, the program is expected to
cover 94 percent of the areas along the Belt and Road in
China.
At the end of the symposium, Jean-Christophe Pointeau led the company's
China management team to place an
"In China, for China" seal on a
scroll. He highlighted: "As one of the first multinational
pharmaceutical companies in China,
we have been devoted to bringing health to Chinese people over the
past 36 years. Sanofi greatly appreciates President Xi's
confidence in bolstering opening-up and fostering collaboration at
the CIIE opening ceremony. President Xi said that the Chinese
economy is a sea. As the world's leading healthcare company and an
outstanding corporate citizen, Sanofi, together with our 9,500
employees, will be dedicated to our mission and strive to safeguard
the health of Chinese people."
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SOURCE Sanofi