Press release: Strong UK-China collaborations in healthcare

It has been a momentous month for healthcare agreements between the UK and China, with the announcement of numerous collaborations by UK companies in healthcare and life sciences with their Chinese partners.

Over £500 million of healthcare and life science deals were signed in the visit by the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for International Trade.

The deals signify the closer working between the UK and China to develop faster, safer and more effective diagnostics, therapeutics and healthcare services.

Future of Medicine signings

The Secretary of State witnessed UK-China deal signings at the Future of Medicine event in Beijing, China. The event celebrated the future of medicine through stronger relationships between our 2 countries in personalised medicine, artificial intelligence and digital health.

In a speech delivered to leading Chinese healthcare companies, the Secretary of State said:

Advances in medicine and technology are opening up new opportunities to manage and cure disease. Today accelerated access programs bring novel therapies to patients faster than ever before.

New technologies and advancements cannot be developed in isolation though. To successfully help a population they need to be integrated into the infrastructure of a country’s healthcare system. This is an exciting challenge facing both the UK and China, tackled through greater collaboration during this golden era.

Other recent signings

Other signings witnessed by the Prime Minister and Secretary of State include deals between China’s Food and Drug Administration and the UK Medicine and Health Products Regulatory Authority, and TPP and First Chengmei Medical add weight to the increasingly strong relationship between UK-China healthcare companies.

Sharing the stage with the former NHFPC Vice Minister Jin Xiaotao, the Secretary of State said:

The UK has a population of approximately 65 million, the size of one Chinese province. With a population of 1.4 billion the data that can be generated through health care collaborations in China has a huge global worth.

List of Signings

The full list of the healthcare and life sciences deal signings, in conjunction with the Prime Minister’s and Secretary of State’s visit are:

• Trinity College Cambridge and Tus-Holdings: Tus-Holdings signed an agreement to invest over 200 million into the Cambridge Science Park
• AstraZeneca China and Shenzhen Tencent Computer Systems signed an agreement to work together to tackle counterfeit drugs on the e-commerce platform
• The University of Manchester and Peking University Health Science Center signed an agreement to cooperate in the areas of Biology, Medicine and Health and to extend collaboration on a new Joint Technological Platform for biomarker discovery
• Medopad and Peking University Smart Health Lab signed an agreement to work together to configure new care models and patient monitoring solutions
• Medopad and China Resources Guokang (Shanghai) Pharmaceutical Co. signed a contract to transform how patients with chronic and high cost diseases are cared for
• Congenica and Digital China Health signed a MOU on genomic data analytics research and development to implement a medical big data strategy in China
• Beijing UniteGen Co. Ltd signed an agreement to expand the existing commercial deal with Congenica to provide genomic diagnosis solutions for Chinese rare disease patients
• Nine Health Global and Tsingdata D-LAB signed an agreement to collaborate in the development of bid data health analytics
• Eight Great Technologies and Leaguer International Co signed an agreement to create a 5 billion RMB fund to invest in UK emerging technologies
• TPP and First Chengmai Medical Industry Group have signed an agreement to work together to deliver an integrated healthcare platform for electronic records
• China’s Food and Drug Administration and the UK Medicine and Health Products Regulatory Authority agreed to exchange safety information on medicines and medical devices to protect patients in the UK, China, and around the world

More information on China healthcare opportunities

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