Sanofi chief lauds ‘significant China milestone’

Sanofi CEO Frédéric Oudéa says the company's new billion-dollar plant in China will directly help the country’s 140 million diabetics.

Transcript

00:00It's a very significant new milestone. It's a 1 billion euro investment

00:04so you can see the size and of course it addresses the needs of

00:09140 million Chinese people who suffer from diabetes

00:14and

00:16our strategy is really in particular to

00:20contribute to the evolution of the health care system and

00:24the access to drugs for Chinese population and I think that it's a perfect example

00:30by building this plant here in China close to the population

00:35and with this capacity to meet the needs of

00:40Chinese patients. So I think this decision is very consistent with our strategy if I may say a natural one and

00:47consistent one with our long-term strategy. And we have also noticed that

00:53beyond this investment Sinofi has been actively

00:56participating in China's major expo such as the International Import Expo and the International Supply Chain Expo.

01:03So can you share us about your involvement in Chinese market and how important is the Chinese market to your company?

01:12First of all, let me emphasize that this present presence in these

01:17expos as well as actually this decision

01:20coincides with the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between France and China and you know, there was a

01:30visit of President Xi in Maine, France

01:33which highlighted the very strong cooperation between France and China in life science.

01:38And I think our presence in these expos is a way to say yes, we are here.

01:45We believe in the potential of China in terms of innovation.

01:50We saw the development in the last 10 years of a lot of biotechs, the emphasis on innovation

01:56and we just want to say we want to be there and to participate to this

02:01innovation process. This time the

02:04investment will definitely bring mutual benefits. What opportunities do you see and what

02:09changes would you bring to China? We have in mind the

02:13Healthy China

02:142030 strategy which puts of course those development and the access to drugs as a

02:22core part of the strategic agenda for the country. And I must say there is an environment which is very supportive for

02:30investment by MNCs.

02:32We will have the support of the Chinese government and of course of the Beijing local regional authorities

02:40for this project. And I'm convinced that there's a strong potential for us and we will of course

02:47play a part if I may say in this journey in the coming years to provide a better access and a more affordable access

02:55to new drugs

02:57whether it's to treat diseases also to prevent diseases. And of course as you know

03:02we are also a big player in the vaccines and which is an important part of health protection.