The 10th CFS Finance Summit & 2021 Sustainable Business Conference, themed "Growth," was held in Shanghai on July 28-29.Established in 2012 by Shuyang Network, the CFS Finance Summit is a major event brand jointly created by numerous domestic financial and mass media outlets. Through speeches, high-level dialogues, in-depth sharing sessions, tribute ceremonies, and brand innovation exhibitions, the summit gathers and shares business wisdom while exploring the driving forces behind China's economic transformation and development. Today, it has become one of the most influential platforms for intellectual exchange in China's economic sphere.
This year's summit primarily took place offline with integrated online participation. Key events included the opening ceremony, high-level forums, a decade-long celebration, and a brand innovation exhibition. Concurrently held were specialized sessions such as the Digitalization Conference, Financial Innovation Conference, New Consumption Conference, Healthcare Industry Forum, and Intelligent Manufacturing Conference.The summit attracted over 600 leading enterprises in the industry. More than 200 distinguished guests shared cutting-edge insights through both online and offline channels. Over 200 media outlets participated in depth, with the event reaching and engaging over 20 million people across online and offline platforms.
At the 10th Finance Summit, YuanDa Pharmaceutical (China) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as YuanDa Pharmaceutical) garnered significant attention from capital markets and the industry due to its outstanding performance in recent years. It became the sole pharmaceutical company honored with the "2021 Technological Innovation Leadership" award at this summit.During the summit, Dr. Shi Lin, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Grand Pharma, shared her insights on pharmaceutical innovation and elaborated on the company's strategic innovation initiatives in a dedicated thematic interview.
Photo: Dr. Shi Lin, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Grand Pharma (China) Co., Ltd.
01 Strategic Innovation: Building Momentum Through Accumulation
As an international pharmaceutical enterprise driven by technological innovation, Yuanda Pharmaceutical has accumulated profound R&D expertise and extensive industrial experience through 82 years of dedication to the pharmaceutical field. The company has proactively positioned itself at the forefront of global innovation and technological leadership across key therapeutic areas, including precision interventional diagnostics and therapy, radioligand therapy (RLT), tumor immunotherapy, and critical anti-infective treatments.
Since 2015, building upon its mature formulation business, Yunda Pharma has implemented a comprehensive transformation strategy. Guided by technological innovation, it has pursued a global expansion strategy. Through a dual-drive approach of "independent R&D" and "global expansion," the company has secured a series of globally exclusive innovative drugs, medical devices, and products with broad market potential from pharmaceutical powerhouses such as the United States, Australia, Germany, and Canada.Proactively positioning itself in cutting-edge fields such as precision interventional diagnostics and therapy, radionuclide-drug conjugate diagnostics and therapy, and immunotherapy.
Unlike many follow-on "innovations," Yunda Pharmaceutical emphasizes original innovation in its products, focusing on developing true first-in-class products within its pipeline. It transforms new discoveries from basic research and breakthroughs at the scientific frontier into breakthroughs for innovative products.
Through an innovation strategy combining independent R&D with global expansion, Grand Pharma has successfully transformed into an innovative pharmaceutical enterprise spanning multiple business areas: oncology therapeutics, cardiovascular emergency preparations and high-end medical devices, antiviral and anti-infective agents, respiratory, ENT, and biohealth products, as well as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).It has achieved global leadership particularly in precision diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, as well as radionuclide-drug conjugate (RDC) anti-tumor therapy.
02 Innovation: Think what others dare not think, do what others dare not do.
Dr. Shi Lin believes China's pharmaceutical industry has entered an era where products reign supreme, market access takes precedence, and brands and services are equally valued. The next five years will be critical for China's innovative drug development and for YuanDa Pharmaceutical's successful transformation. Innovation demands breaking conventions, transcending traditions, and requires both courage and wisdom.
"Only those with both ambition and perseverance, refusing to succumb to complacency, can reach their ultimate destination." Dr. Shi identifies two primary catalysts for innovation: fostering an environment that tolerates failure and encouraging exploration and transformation.Innovation and risk are inseparable. For Yunda Pharmaceutical, venturing into uncharted territory means embracing greater risks. At this stage, innovation demands swift decision-making and professional judgment. Building on existing capabilities, the company must dare to tackle significant market needs with moderate difficulty, planning and developing a series of unique products. With a global perspective, it should cultivate enduring product and technological competitiveness through a combination of approaches: independent R&D, collaborative development, acquisitions of specialized technology companies, and attracting top-tier talent.
During the medical insurance negotiations in late December last year, PD-1 garnered immense public attention. Ultimately, four domestically produced PD-1 drugs were included in the insurance coverage, with average price reductions of 78% and the highest exceeding 80%. In this new landscape, the era of high profits from a single drug has passed. Success now belongs to companies possessing a substantial portfolio of clinically superior innovative drugs and demonstrating continuous breakthroughs.
Dr. Shi Lin stated that Grand Pharma is undergoing a critical transformation phase. Through differentiated positioning, specialized enhancement, and international expansion, the company has established a global "precision diagnosis + treatment" strategy centered on the "vascular, neurological, and oncological" triad, progressively realizing its "integrated treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases" strategic vision.Focusing on "antiviral and anti-infective" therapies, Yunda Pharma has proactively targeted diseases like sepsis and parainfluenza that pose significant threats to human health yet lack effective treatments. Several innovative drugs have received IND approvals in China, Australia, and Belgium, with patients safely receiving treatment.
Through a combination of independent R&D and collaborations with renowned universities, research institutions, and international corporations, the establishment of multiple pharmaceutical platforms, clinical platforms, and leading technology platforms will comprehensively support the efficient and high-quality advancement of YuanDa Pharmaceutical's R&D efforts.Dr. Shi Lin also emphasized that new drug development is a high-risk endeavor, inevitably facing setbacks and challenges. Yet this is the nature of R&D—our mission is to tackle one difficult problem after another, enduring solitude and persevering through isolation.If our Chairman and CEO are the masterminds strategizing from the command center, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) is the commander on the front lines. It takes one part sharp insight, two parts decisiveness, and three parts responsibility to make decisions amid uncertainty. Every step in new drug development is fraught with thorns, yet only by walking paths untrodden can we reach destinations unseen.
As of June this year, Grand Pharma has over 100 ongoing R&D projects. Excluding consistency evaluation initiatives, our innovative projects span various stages from preclinical to new drug application submissions. Moving forward, we aim to strengthen our R&D pipeline in interventional diagnostics, oncology, critical anti-infectives, and our traditional strengths—cardiovascular, respiratory, and ophthalmology—with billion-dollar molecules poised to emerge.
03 Persisting on a Distinctive Innovation Path Tailored to Our Development