AbbVie: Advancing the next frontier of global health

As China's two sessions set the policy agenda for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), healthcare remains a national priority. The just-concluded China Development Forum has brought together global leaders to discuss China's growing role in global innovation and economic growth, highlighting the country's shift toward high-quality healthcare driven by scientific innovation and global collaboration.

In this evolving ecosystem, global healthcare companies such as AbbVie play a key role by investing in local innovation and expanding patient access globally. At CDF, we spoke with Jerome Bouyer, senior vice-president of AbbVie and president of International Therapeutics, to share his insights and perspectives.

Q: As a global pharma leader attending CDF for the first time and reflecting upon your last days in China interacting with different stakeholders, how would you assess China's role in the evolving global healthcare landscape?

Attending the 2026 CDF, I was particularly impressed with the openness, optimism and the sense of collaboration. I saw a similar atmosphere in all my interactions during my visit. I appreciate the country's approach in fostering global partnerships, while its innovation-led growth is accelerating medical breakthroughs and biotech investment.

Good policies are critical to align government, academic partners and industry leaders like AbbVie, and enable us to work together to improve biotech innovation, patient access, and health equity. The attention given by the Chinese government toward accelerating clinical development or improving intellectual property protection represents only two important examples.

Q: As a fast-growing player in China's healthcare and biotech sector, how do you view these changes, and what role does AbbVie play?

I spent a very informative stage of my career working in China over a decade ago, and visiting again, now I've personally seen how the economy has shifted — from prioritizing speed and scale to placing greater emphasis on quality and sustainable growth.

AbbVie is dedicated to delivering innovative treatments for Chinese patients and fostering collaborations within China's dynamic life sciences ecosystem. We recognize China's impressive innovative capacity, and we actively invest through business development, local partnerships, clinical trials, and local commercial presence.

With China's rapid biotech sector development, the local industry is an increasingly important partner in advancing R&D and innovation for patients worldwide. Our biannual China Partnering Day is a platform for Chinese partners to gain deeper insight into our strategy and explore potential collaborations with AbbVie. Plus, we actively collaborate with local partners across the ecosystem, aiming to elevate China as a thriving innovation hub that benefits patients both locally and globally. Over the past two years, our partnerships with innovative Chinese biotech companies have approached $10 billion in total value, including several collaborations that originated from connections made through AbbVie's China Partnering Day.

Q: With a robust pipeline spanning immunology, oncology and neuroscience, how is AbbVie addressing China's most pressing unmet medical needs?

AbbVie is building long-term capabilities to address high-burden diseases across therapeutic areas like immunology, oncology, and neuroscience, treating more than 75 conditions globally and benefiting over 60 million patients each year. The scientific progress being made is truly exciting and I am optimistic this innovation will bring huge benefit to Chinese patients and the healthcare system.

Since 2013, we have expanded our brands in China from five to over 20, covering a range of therapeutic areas, and plan to launch more than 40 new products and indications by 2030 to further benefit Chinese patients. Last year, we achieved approval for four new products and indications in China. Our aim is to bring every product in AbbVie's pipeline to China within the next decade.

Looking at these therapeutic areas in a bit more detail, one by one. In immunology, AbbVie has pioneered care, with over 25 years of expertise in autoimmune conditions benefiting more than a million patients worldwide every year. Our innovative JAK-1 inhibitor was launched in China almost simultaneously with the United States. Within two years, it was approved for eight indications across dermatology, rheumatology, and gastroenterology. To date, three immunology products have been approved in China, covering 13 key indications, including the first global therapy for Crohn's disease and the first portable dosing device, providing valuable new treatment options for Chinese patients.

In oncology, AbbVie is advancing standards of care for hard-to-treat cancers, with over 40 clinical trials ongoing in China and several indications expected by 2030. In hematology, we introduced the first BCL-2 inhibitor for acute myeloid leukemia, marking a shift toward targeted therapy in a very severe, life-threatening disease. We are also progressing next-generation approaches in solid tumors, such as bispecific antibodies and antibody drug conjugates, both treatments specifically target the cancer cell in the human body.

In neuroscience, AbbVie is developing innovative therapies to address a broad range of neurological conditions, including cognitive and behavioral challenges in advanced Parkinson's disease, as well as migraine. Through pilot policies and regional pathways, like the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, we seek to accelerate access to breakthrough treatments. For example, the world's first oral CGRP receptor antagonist, a new generation of migraine treatments, was recently approved in Hong Kong and Macao and is expected to benefit migraine patients across China.

Q: How does AbbVie view China's role in its global strategy in 2026 and beyond, and how does it align with the country's high-quality healthcare development?

As one of the world's fastest growing markets, China is of significant importance to our growth internationally. We are leveraging our global scale to benefit Chinese patients and expanding our domestic footprint and long-term local partnerships.

AbbVie is engaged across the pharmaceutical value chain in China, including research and development, clinical trials, new drug launches, and licensing partnerships.

AbbVie acknowledges the significant progress China has made in accelerating clinical innovation. We have observed that patient recruitment in China can be two to three times faster than in other countries, reflecting the strong clinical trial infrastructure, patient population, favorable policies and deep expertise of leading investigators and advanced hospital systems.

Therefore, today China plays a pivotal role in AbbVie's global clinical network. China now participates in 85 percent of AbbVie's global Phase III trials, with more than 100 studies ongoing or planned.

Q: Could you provide specific examples of local partnerships and investments with Chinese startups and high-tech medical private and public entities?

We view our recent partnerships as models of mutual empowerment, delivering AbbVie's therapies to China while also helping transform Chinese innovations into treatments for patients worldwide. In 2024, AbbVie entered into a global exclusive licensing agreement with Future-Gen, a China-based biotech company, to advance a next-generation immunology program. This January, AbbVie entered a global exclusive licensing agreement regarding novel therapies for advanced solid tumors with RemeGen, headquartered in Shandong province.

From mid-2024 to early 2026, we signed nearly $10 billion worth of R&D collaboration agreements with Chinese biotechnology companies, including an acceleration within the last 12 months with about $8 billion in signed agreements.

Q: Looking ahead, how do you want AbbVie to be remembered as a contributor to China's healthcare progress?

The latest initiatives under the 15th Five-Year Plan create significant opportunities for trusted partners, including AbbVie, in the healthcare innovation ecosystem.

We believe these partnerships are of mutual benefit and demonstrate the strength of matching global and local resources and expertise. They help Chinese patients access world-leading medicines faster; they strengthen AbbVie's global pipeline through Chinese innovation and support, transforming local innovation into treatments for patients worldwide.

So in summary, AbbVie wants to be known as a highly innovative and trusted partner delivering life-changing treatments contributing to China's healthcare progress.