Chiesi showcases top-notch products at the ongoing China International Import Expo.

During the ongoing China International Import Expo in Shanghai, Chiesi Group, an Italy-headquartered biopharmaceutical multinational company, is striking a pose on the annual meeting for the third time.

This year, the research-focused company, which develops and markets innovative therapeutic solutions in AIR (Asthma and COPD, neonatology and Cystic Fibrosis), RARE(Inborn errors of metabolism, rare hematologic and immunologic diseases, ophthalmology disorders), and CARE (Solid organ transplant, cardiovascular diseases, and consumer healthcare), is demonstrating its latest innovative products, as well as the core value of sustainability, to audiences around the world.

This is also the first time for Giuseppe Accogli, CEO of Chiesi Group, to visit China since he took the post in April.

He said: "It is the perfect opportunity to visit China for the sixth CIIE.China holds a strategically important position for Chiesi and it is a priority market with strong growth potential. This year's CIIE is expected to help us strengthen relationships, create corporations with Chinese partners, and bring new innovations in to support the patients, which makes our mission to save and sustain patients' life even stronger."

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the establishment of Chiesi China. Currently, the group's business in China mainly focuses on respiratory health, covering patients of different age groups, ranging from newborns to the elderly.

In 2022, Chiesi China Marco Polo Project was launched in China, aimed at constantly introducing innovative products to the Chinese market, fostering communication between experts from China, Italy and the rest of Europe in the healthcare sector, benefiting more Chinese patients and improving their quality of life.

"While expanding our business, Chiesi aims to assist in the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage of China, and promote the cultural exchange between the two ancient civilizations of China and Italy," said Deng Haoqing, general manager of Chiesi China.

For this year's CIIE, Chiesi's thematic exhibition area is composed of three sections: primary care, special care and shared value and sustainability.

Among the primary care section is demonstrated triple combination inhaler, a product introduced to the Chinese market in May for adults with COPD, as well as aerosolized inhaler and ICS/LABA combination inhaler.

The special care's specific drug section is equipped with virtual reality technologies, enabling professional visitors to learn the delivery technique of pulmonary surfactant and caffeine injection for premature newborns and preterm babies.

The shared value and sustainability section demonstrates the group's efforts in sustainability, with a DIY regeneration event designed to convey the company's core priority and encourage visitors to integrate environmentally friendly practices into their daily lives.

Innovation

The company's emphasis in innovation enables it to increase the quality of human life, by finding innovative products and services, and improving treatments.

"We want to be stronger and even more global than we are, which is why we focus on innovations in three areas: AIR, RARE, and CARE," Accogli said.

Chiesi's investments are historically focused on increasing R&D activities and on expanding its commercial portfolio.

In 2022, the company allocated 21.4 percent of its revenues, or 589 million euros ($624.6 million), to R&D, a 23 percent increase from the investment of 478.8 million euros in 2021.

"Chiesi, even with a more than 85-year legacy, is broadening the definition of innovation, that innovations are not only about products, but also about services with solutions. For example, we follow patients' journey and the products are just a piece of patients' journey and there is a lot that happens before you use the product and after you use the product, like how we monitor patients using the product is where the digital innovation comes in," said Accogli.

"For products we have launched in China, we will further improve accessibility to benefit for Chinese patients.

"For products not yet launched in China, we will put more efforts in the aim to speed up the process so that Chinese patients can benefit from them earlier.

"For products in the R&D progress, we are including Chinese studies in clinical trials to target innovation landing in parallel," he added.

Currently, Chiesi owns seven R&D centers worldwide, which are located in Italy, Canada, China, France, the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden, respectively.

Shared value, sustainability

What is also demonstrated in the CIIE is a glimpse of the group's constant efforts in sustainability.

Accogli said: "One of the pillars of our company strategy is shared value and sustainability. Sustainability is a core priority of our business; it's the essence of our mission and it has a positive impact on everything we do. It goes beyond CSR and it's ingrained in all our activities in all the markets we operate in, including China."

The group's commitments to sustainability include improving patients' and people's health, well-being and quality of life; continuously innovating the sustainability of all company practices; promoting a conscious and sustainable way of doing business by fostering a collaborative dialogue among stakeholders; and contributing to the development of the local communities in which the company operates.

Chiesi has been rewarded with recognition from the Cerved Rating Agency of the AA ESG rating with an overall score of 75.1 out of 100 for its commitment to climate action and transparency.

According to the independent rating agency, Chiesi ranks in the top quintile of best-performing companies in the healthcare products sector, and scores high in terms of emission reduction, gender balance and training ratio.

Chiesi believes that companies have the power and means to make a difference. It is their responsibility to take care of the ecosystem in which they operate and its inhabitants. Business activities should extend beyond profit and consider the wider community acting as a force for good in the world.

When promoting sustainable progress and shared value in the healthcare sector, actions mean more than words.

Chiesi commits to measuring its impact systematically both inside and outside the organization.

The climate crisis requires us to address societal/natural challenges when building the future of our business.

In consequence, making Chiesi netzero is one of the focal points of the corporate behavior.

"We have adopted a detailed roadmap of actions: on direct GHG emissions and indirect GHG emissions from purchased electricity and heat (Scope 1 and 2) by 2030; and on all other indirect GHG emissions (Scope 3) by 2035.

"Our mitigation strategy follows a hierarchical approach: avoid, reduce, substitute and remove. This way, by altering carbon-intensive processes by design, we pre-empt emissions generation in the first place.

"Our targets were approved by the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) in April 2021. We believe that scientific measurement standards are essential to encourage and track progress. Only scientific standards allow businesses to plan and implement carbon reduction targets with accuracy and transparency," he said.

Following the publication of the new SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard in October 2021, Chiesi decided to transition from the concept of carbon neutrality to the more stringent new benchmark of Net Zero Emissions.

"This choice represents a game-changer and one that will definitely step up our ambition: We are working to revise our reduction targets to fully adopt the more demanding requirements of the new SBTi standard."

In 2019, Chiesi became the first company to announce this solution. In 2022, it announced the positive readout of the initial studies on a leading product for the treatment of asthma and COPD, formulated with the new low-GWP propellant.

The Carbon Minimal Inhaler is expected to be rolled out to all geographic areas in which it operates by 2030. The path to this goal includes a 350 million euros investment.

In parallel, Chiesi continues to invest in Dry Powder Inhaler (DPI).