Boost for global health as UK and China agree £2 billion of healthcare trade and investment deals
Chinese and UK companies, universities and organisations have signed more than £2 billion of healthcare trade deals and collaborations.
More than £2 billion of healthcare trade deals and collaborations have been signed between Chinese and UK companies, universities and organisations during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Britain.
Speaking today (21 October 2015) at the Life Science and Healthcare Business Forum, Minister for Life Sciences George Freeman said that the collaborations will provide benefits that go beyond the populations of China and the UK, and will have a positive effect on global health:
With a population of more than one billion and a rapidly developing economy, China is set to become the world’s fastest growing healthcare market. Today’s £2 billion trade package for UK exports in research, hospital construction, training, diagnostics and drug discovery shows the huge potential of UK/Chinese Life Science trade.
Mr Freeman said both Britain and China have long been admired for producing some of the world’s leading scientists and academics, whose advances have improved and saved the lives of millions of people suffering from serious diseases such as cancer:
Cancer is the number one killer of people in the UK and China and like many nations we are in hot pursuit to find an effective treatment. Which is why collaborations such as those being announced today between Warwick University and Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Centre on training and research to co-develop anti-cancer treatments are so important.
UK patients will also benefit from China’s technological advancements with deals such as United Imaging and Cerno who have collaborated to bring the latest oncology imaging technology to the UK.
And the sharing of expertise will flow both ways, said Mr Freeman.
UK organisations Annie Barr, Glasgow Caledonian University and Kings College London are supporting the training of Chinese health professionals in Nanjing, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Shenzhen as the Chinese government aims to train 150,000 doctors and 2 million nurses by 2020.
All of these collaborations announced today show how Chinese and UK organisations recognise each other’s potential. Together we have a real opportunity to make a difference to people’s lives and improve the health outcomes for millions across the globe.
UK leadership in Life Science is helping to support both UK economic growth and the sustainable development of emerging economies. This is a win-win for the NHS, UK and China.
Notes to editors:
The list of the trade and investment deals announced at the Life Science and Healthcare Business Forum include:
- Annie Barr International: Annie Barr will provide training for care workers working with the elderly in China. Partnership estimated at £16 million
- Glasgow Caledonian University working with CHECK: China UK Health Education Consortium (CHECK) has signed a deal with Beijing Vocational Health School to train nurse teachers and trainers in both UK and China which is worth £ 1 million
- Counton GMS: Counton GMS working with private UK hospitals to provide specialised hospital treatment for severely ill Chinese patients in the UK. Partnership estimated at £57 million
- International Hospital Group: CREC (China Railway Engineering Corporation) has contracted International Hospital Group hospital to build a hospital in the South of China. Partnership estimated at £204 million
- King’s College London: Kings College London has signed a £10 million contract for nurse training in Nanjing with Nanjing Health Bureau
- Phynova: Phynova will receive £5 million investment from XiangXue Pharmaceutical to support research into TCM and bringing TCM products to the world
- Sinophi Healthcare: Sinophi will build hospitals in China, four of which will be Sinophi Oncology Centres with top AAA hospitals in China and AVO technology, which will generate £700 million
- Sino-UK EID Fund (The Zhong fund): £100 million (initial fund)
- United Imaging: United Imaging (Shanghai based Chinese company) has created imaging machines that Cerno (a UK company) will distribute in the UK for use by NHS trusts. Partnership estimated at £58 million
- UK-China Technology Fund: Provides ₤50 million in funding for technology from UK institutions that can be commercialised in the Chinese market, with the money being re-cycled into further research & development funding in the UK. The Fund is a collaboration with Isis Innovation, the technology commercialization arm of the University of Oxford, and a UK-China fund management team, which has access to investors, companies and the markets in China
- Upper Biotech: Shanghai Upper Biotech has invested £2.4 million in Microtest to research and develop the technology of POCT (point of care test), which is a part of In-vitro Diagnostics
- Warwick University: Warwick University is signing a new agreement with Sun Yat-Sen University on precision medicine, and another with the Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Centre on training and research including training of specialist cancer nurses and digital pathology and co-developing anti-cancer treatments