STANDING ON FRONT LINE AGAINST PATHOGENS

China's growing excellence in scientific and medical research is playing a major role in the global war on pathogens and infectious diseases, according to Alain Merieux, chairman and CEO of French conglomerate Institut Merieux.

Merieux, whose company was established by his grandfather in Lyon in 1897, has made a massive contribution to improving China's public health over the past 40 years, initially by providing vaccines, and then through medical diagnostics and immunotherapy.

He first visited the country in April 1978, several months before the central government launched its transformative reform and opening-up policy.