Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla speaks at the China Development Forum in Beijing on March 25, 2023.
Lintao Zhang | Getty Images News | Getty Images
BEIJING – American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has signed an agreement with China to work together to improve the country’s health coverage, the company said.
“We are very aligned with the China ‘Healthy 2030’ (initiative) and we are trying to contribute as much as we can,” Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, told CNBC’s Eunice Yoon on Saturday.
He declined to share further details, including dollar amounts.
China announced a “Healthy China 2030” plan in 2016 to improve the country’s public health services, medical industry, and food and drug safety. The Covid-19 pandemic also exposed the deficiencies in China’s still-developing public health system.
Pfizer’s memorandum of understanding with the Health China Research Center aims to support public health research and improve the health of rural populations, according to details released by Chinese state media.
All individuals and citizens of China would have equal access to our innovative product,” Pfizer China President Jean-Christophe Pointeau said in the report.
He said the company has about 600 employees dedicated to rural areas “educating healthcare professionals on our breakthrough innovation Oncology, Anti-infectives and Inflammation & Immunology.”
The weekend’s comments did not discuss the Paxlovid drug for treating Covid.
In January, Bourla said Pfizer had signed an agreement with a local partner to produce Paxlovid in China, which could begin production in three or four months.