The Galien Foundation China delegation, led by President Daniel Vial, visited Sun Yat-senUniversity Cancer Center (SYSUCC) on July 1, 2026, accompanied by officials from the Guangzhou Municipal Government. The delegation held talks with Academician Rui-hua Xu, President of SYSUCC, and a team of center experts.

The visiting Galien Foundation China delegation included President Daniel Vial, Vice President Romain Jouvenceau, and Vice President Yao Lin. Representing SYSUCC were President Rui-hua Xu (Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering), Dr. Hengying Pu, Deputy Director of the Executive Office, and Dr. Shuang Liao, Director ofthe Office of International Collaboration, along with other experts.

President Rui-hua Xu extended a warm welcome to the Galien delegation on behalf of the center. President Daniel Vial expressed his sincere gratitude for the hospitality and noted that China has made remarkable achievements in biopharmaceutical innovation in recent years. He also expressed the hope that, should an opportunity arise, Academician Xu could be invited to join the jury committee of the Galien Foundation China, and that he looks forward to receiving Xu‘s valuable insights and guidance.

Yao Lin, representing the Galien Foundation China project preparation team, introduced that the Prix Galien, established in 1970 and often hailed as the “Nobel Prize in the pharmaceutical field,” is a benchmark award in the global biopharmaceutical sector. He noted that in recent years, China’s biopharmaceutical industry has undergone rapid growth and achieved a qualitative leap, with globalpharmaceutical innovation gradually forming a dual-innovation-center landscape between East and West. The Galien China project, he explained, will tailor its evaluation criteria and operational rules to China‘s academic and industrial realities, with the goal of building an independent, professional, and international assessment platform that will help bring China’s biomedical innovationsto the world stage.

Academician Rui-hua Xu acknowledged the professionalism and authority of the Prix Galien, which are widely recognized in the scientific community. He emphasized that China‘s academic and industrial sectors are closely integrated and that innovative drug development is advancing at a rapid pace. All relevant parties are highly attentive to the launch of the Galien Foundation China and see it as an opportunity to foster deeper integration of Chinese and global pharmaceutical innovation resources, facilitating the global market access of China’s homegrown innovative pharmaceutical products.

Following the presentations, experts from both sides engaged in cordial discussions on topics including the implementation of the Galien China project and the formation of its jury committee.

In September 2025, the Guangzhou Municipal Government and the Galien Foundation signed a strategic cooperation memorandum of understanding to deepen bilateral collaboration. This visit of the delegation to Guangzhou and its engagement with the city‘s leading scientific research team represents another solid step forward in accelerating the establishment of the Galien China project in Guangzhou.