(Yicai) Sept. 16 -- The China International Import Expo, which opens in just under 50 days, has become not only an important window for multinational drugmakers to showcase global innovation achievements, but also a key platform for promoting companies' local investment and development, according to the general manager of AstraZeneca's country arm.

AstraZeneca will continue to show its products at a 1,000-square-meter booth at this year's ninth CIIE, which kicks off on Nov. 5, Alex Lin said in a recent interview with Yicai. Over the past eight editions, the UK-Swedish drugmaker has exhibited 20 innovative drugs, including last year's debut of Truqap, an innovative treatment for breast cancer, which took only eight months from approval to inclusion in China's medical insurance catalog, he pointed out.

AstraZeneca's China revenue rose 4 percent to a record high of USD6.7 billion last year from the previous year, accounting for 11 percent of its total income.

Doing business in China is a "long-term victory for long-termists (those who believe in long-term returns)," Zhang Lei, vice president of communication in China and Northeast Asia at Bayer, said to Yicai. "Participating in the CIIE for nine straight years is the German pharmaceutical company's firm vote of trust in the Chinese market."

Many of Bayer's drugs that have achieved high growth in China made their debut or were exhibited for the first time at the CIIE, moving faster to hit the market and into more indications starting from the expo, Zhang stressed.

The sales of Bayer's innovative prostate cancer drug Nubeqa in Chinese hospital market soared to CNY500 million (USD74.5 million) last year from about CNY200 million (USD29.81 million) in 2023, while another innovative drug Kerendia for kidney disease surged more than sixfold to more than CNY600 million in the period, Zhang pointed out.

US-Irish medical devices maker Medtronic, which will also take part in its ninth CIIE, will show about 120 innovative products and solutions at this year's event, with the number of debut products and its exhibition scale reaching a new high in past years.

The CIIE has witnessed Medtronic's progress from an "introducer" of global innovation to an "implementer," and then to a "co-builder" of the local innovation ecosystem, Senior Vice President Alex Gu, who is also president of the firm's China arm, told Yicai. The company will debut seven products this year, many of which use artificial intelligence algorithms and intelligent monitoring technology, he said.

Boehringer Ingelheim has exhibited nearly 50 innovative products at the CIIE over the years, many of which have ultimately moved from "exhibits" to "commodities." The German pharmaceuticals giant will display 10 innovative products, including drugs for humans and animals, in the innovation exhibition area of this year's expo, with many making their China debut, such as a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) dual receptor agonist that is in the preclinical development phase for overweight, obesity, and metabolic-related steatohepatitis treatment, as well as three investigational therapies.

Ioannis Sapountzis, president and chief executive officer of Boehringer Ingelheim China, summarized the firm's upgraded local strategy as "In China, for China, Benefiting the World." The country will become the company's growth engine, innovation source, an important part of its global research and development network, and a key node in its supply chain and talent system, he pointed out.

Boehringer Ingelheim separated China from emerging markets in its organizational structure this year, establishing a new R&D center for early development and external innovation cooperation in Shanghai Free Trade Zone's Zhangjiang Science City last month. Its Chinese team has been involved in all key clinical developments and 75 percent of its early-stage projects worldwide.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev