Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals Co is located in Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park in Pudong New Area, East China's Shanghai. [Photo/Official WeChat account of the administrative committee of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone]

As the first multinational pharmaceutical company in Pudong New Area, East China's Shanghai, Roche has benefited from and contributed to the robust development of the area.

In 1994, Roche established its China headquarters in Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park in Pudong, which is now dubbed China's "Medicine Valley". It set up a research and development center in 2004, which is Roche's first R&D center in emerging markets and also Shanghai's first one that is wholly-owned by a foreign company. Later, Roche built a factory to produce drugs locally.

In 2019, the company spent 863 million yuan ($133.48 million) in upgrading its R&D center to the Roche Innovation Center Shanghai (RICS). This May, it invested 200 million yuan to launch an in-house accelerator in Zhangjiang, which is Roche's first independently-operated and owned accelerator, aiming to further the innovation-driven development of China's medical industry.

Over the past 27 years, Roche has expanded its Chinese businesses from sales of drugs to research and development, production, as well as marketing.

Roche has been committed to building China into its global innovation center, said Shen Hong, director of RICS. The center had submitted 271 patent applications by the end of last year, 144 of which have been granted in China, the United States, the European Union or Japan, according to Shen.

In addition, nine drug molecules that the RICS helped develop have entered a clinical trial phase. In the future, RICS will make full use of cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence, big data, and digital technology, to promote the R&D of new drugs, said Shen.

To date, Roche Pharmaceuticals has owned 24 products in China that involve eight medical treatment sectors.

In a recently released guideline that consists of multiple measures to build Pudong into a pioneer in socialist modernization, China pledges to turn the area into a hub for independent innovation, which greatly inspires Roche.

"Drugs that are used for clinical research can be imported duty-free, which will significantly reduce our costs, speed up innovative products' entry into China's market, as well as bring benefits to Chinese patients," said Shen.