Employees work on the production line of a Novo Nordisk venture in Tianjin. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, president and CEO of Denmark-based biopharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, said he was confident about long-term growth in the country.

"We are fully confident that the Chinese economy will maintain growth. The 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) will serve as a roadmap for economic and social development and help sustain high-quality growth. With a supportive business environment, we are confident that Novo Nordisk, along with other foreign businesses, will enjoy long-term success in the country."

Novo Nordisk, a global leader in diabetes care, has already established a full value chain in the country, with one of its biggest manufacturing bases in Tianjin that supplies both Chinese and international markets with durable devices for insulin injection and insulin products.

According to the company's CEO, it will continue to invest in a sustainable and innovation-based healthcare ecosystem in China.

With its China Essentials program launched and updated in 2020, the company has integrated China into its latest global clinical development, aiming to achieve simultaneous submission for global new drug applications in the country.

As China enters a new development phase featuring the dual-circulation development paradigm, which takes the domestic market as the mainstay while letting domestic and foreign markets reinforce each other, there will be significant opportunities for the company to continue enhancing its presence across the whole value chain and strengthen innovation and production capabilities to fulfill the growing needs of people with diabetes in China and globally, said Jorgensen.

China's strong economic recovery since COVID-19 is impressive, said Jorgensen, adding that Novo Nordisk's unit in the country gained significantly due to the robust domestic demand.

In the healthcare sector, a series of major policy reforms have been introduced since 2015, to encourage innovation, speed up new drug registration, and enhance the dynamic adjustment mechanism for the national reimbursement drug list, so as to improve quality healthcare accessibility and affordability.

According to the 14th Five-Year Plan and long-range objectives through 2035, China will continue to improve the fast-track review and approval mechanism for innovative medicines, vaccines and medical devices, so as to accelerate review and approval of medicines and medical devices for urgent clinical use and rare disease treatment.