With the continuous amplification of spillover effects, CIIE has become an important platform for multinational pharmaceutical companies to expand into the Chinese market. On November 6th, 2024, Merck Group signed a non binding cooperation agreement with the Management Committee of Chengdu Eastern New Area in the Medical Devices and Healthcare Exhibition Area of the 7th CIIE. The two sides hope to work together to establish a platform for the transformation of life science and technology in Chengdu, China's fourth largest city with the largest population.
Merck, who is already 356 years old this year, defines itself as a leading technology company with a wide range of business coverage and far-reaching impact, from therapies for the most challenging diseases to achieving intelligent devices. In China, Merck Healthcare has established a full value chain that includes research and development, manufacturing, supply, and sales, covering four major disease areas: cardiovascular, metabolic and endocrine, assisted reproductive, oncology, and neuroimmune.
Since the first CIIE in 2018, Merck has participated in various forms every year. As a seven time "full-time student", Merck showcased its three major businesses of life sciences, pharmaceutical and health, and electronic technology in the new materials section of the technical equipment exhibition area at this year's CIIE. From the initial medical equipment and healthcare exhibition area to the technical equipment exhibition area, and now becoming one of the first exhibitors in the new materials zone this year, Merck has always insisted on rooting itself in China, serving China, and supporting the development of new quality productivity.
Dr. Wu Bo, Vice President of Merck Life Sciences and Managing Director of Life Sciences China, said at the signing ceremony, "The CIIE platform provides us with a valuable opportunity to work more closely with our customers and meet their constantly changing needs. We look forward to working together with the government of the Eastern New Area of Chengdu to promote the steady development of the local life sciences industry and related fields
Regarding the reasons for the cooperation between the two parties, Merck told Time Finance, "The importance of Chengdu's geographical location is self-evident. It is an open gateway to southwest China. Chengdu has proposed the concept of 'Future Medical City', hoping to concentrate clinical research, scientific research, etc. in one block to empower scientists and doctors, which is very advanced. From Merck's perspective, there is also a great need for a gateway point like Chengdu's' Future Medical City 'facing southwest to expand our platform for empowering scientists and doctors. In addition to some laboratory products and new materials in the early stage, Merck hopes to provide products and services that can cover the entire industry chain to help the development of' Future Medical City '. Through cooperation between the two sides, mutual benefit and win-win results can be achieved
Merck stated that it will focus on areas such as biopharmaceuticals to provide comprehensive support for the platform, including technical training, application demonstrations, and operational support, and enhance the investment attractiveness of the "Future Medical City" project in Chengdu's eastern new district.
According to the official website of the Management Committee of Chengdu Eastern New Area, the overall positioning of Chengdu Health Medical Center (Future Medical City) is "the forefront of future medical exploration and innovation, the model of medical research, production and transformation", striving to form a first-class characteristic medical cluster in China by 2025, and aiming to become a world-class future medical innovation highland by 2035.
This collaboration with the Chengdu East New Area Management Committee is a microcosm of Merck's accelerated localization process in China in recent years.
In order to further cultivate the Chinese market, Merck attaches great importance to cooperation with local Chinese enterprises to jointly develop and commercialize related drugs, while helping Chinese enterprises "go global". In 2023, Merck signed agreements with Hengrui Pharmaceutical and Heyu Pharmaceutical to obtain overseas authorization for several innovative Chinese drugs.
In 2024, Merck will further strengthen the localization of its supply chain. Wu Bo told Time Finance, "Merck continues to increase its investment in China, including investments in Nantong and Wuxi. Since the beginning of the year, we have added production lines for cell culture media. In March of this year, we launched our new Shanghai Application Technology Testing Center in Shanghai, and in July, we held a groundbreaking ceremony for high-purity reagents in Nantong, which also invested over 70 million euros in a new production line. We are working with the Wuxi government to localize our production, and all of these investments will help us better serve customers across the entire industry from upstream, midstream, to downstream, and assist our customers in developing new drugs and producing better
In March 2024, Merck announced the successful expansion of its Merck Life Sciences China Technology and Training Collaboration Center (M Lab Collaboration Center) located in Shanghai, making it the largest of Merck's ten global collaboration centers to date. Merck has invested an additional 14 million euros in this expansion, aiming to provide more new opportunities for local and overseas customers.
In Wu Bo's view, strengthening localization construction and enhancing localization service capabilities are also important ways for multinational enterprises to cope with the challenging environment in the current life science industry.
Wu Bo told Time Finance, "There are many changes and challenges in the market now, and localization can help us cope with them. Therefore, Merck actively improves its localization service capabilities, including local personnel, local technical service capabilities, and localized production. Secondly, Merck will also extend its focus to new regions, such as Chengdu and the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, which are in line with China's current development strategy. In the future, we will make some adjustments to make the entire focus more balanced and seek future growth from more fields