AstraZeneca completes medical ecosystem in Wuxi

Multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca entered into an agreement with the administrative management committee of the Wuxi National High-tech District on Aug 5 at the 5th AstraZeneca China Ecosystem Annual Meeting.

According to the agreement, the industry giant will cooperate with WND and Shanghai Zhizhong Medical Technology Co to build a new industrial park for metabolic diseases and management - the MCampus.

The MCampus, initiated by Ning Guang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, will be based on the National Metabolic Management Center. It is expected to serve as an open ecosystem for the integrated development of clinical research and industrialization in order to help upgrade the local biomedical industry.

The MCampus will work to bring in or cultivate 50 enterprises in five years, bring together 500 high-caliber talents of various types, promote the launch of 50 products, achieve 2.5 billion yuan ($369.372 million) in product sales, and develop five newly listed companies, according to the deal.

In September 2019, AstraZeneca and the local government of Wuxi co-built an innovation incubation platform – the Wuxi International Life Science Innovation Campus (I-Campus). It began operating at full capacity in April 2020, maintaining close ties with domestic and foreign business partners, through which it managed to bring innovative forces into China and empower the growth of its resident companies.

During the event, the construction of the third phase of the I-Campus was launched. With a planned construction area totaling 25,720 square meters, the new phase will include seven R&D office buildings and supporting buildings featuring biomedicine, medical equipment, and special medical food.

Leon Wang, executive vice-president of AstraZeneca and president of its China arm, expected AstraZeneca's ecosystem to help attract high-quality resources in the medical industry in an effort to promote the development of organizations and talent in the industry while continuously expanding innovative cooperation.