On July 25th, the new U.S. Ambassador to China, Terry Edward Branstad, had a cordial meeting with Chairman Yuan Yafei and Vice President Jing Tian of Sanpower Group in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

   

Ambassador Branstad firstly welcomed Mr. Yuan Yafei and his team, and gained some insights into the issues related to Sanpower’s recent acquisition of Dendreon, a Seattle-based biotechnology company. Meanwhile, he introduced relevant policies on Chinese enterprises investing in the United States.

   

At the meeting, Mr. Yuan Yafei noted that the acquisition of Dendreon had been smoothly delivered in this June. As the core product of Dendreon, Provenge is the only FDA-approved autologous cellular immunotherapy for treating certain patients with advanced prostate cancer, representing the world’s most advanced cellular immunotherapy in this field. Statistics show that the incidence of prostate cancer has been on the rise in China in recent years, ranking the sixth in tumors among male, with the average annual growth rate at 12.07%. It means a broad market for Provenge, which will bring great benefits to Chinese people. Mr. Yuan suggested that the two countries should strengthen cooperation in this field.

 

 

Mr. Branstad said that as an old friend of the Chinese people, he would further promote communication and exchanges between the two countries. He believed that there would be many opportunities for China and the U.S. to cooperate with each other in a broad range of fields, especially in healthcare which possessed tremendous potential. He hoped to help drive the collaborative development in this field.

   

Mr. Branstad is the longest-serving governor of Iowa. On December 7th, 2016, Mr. Branstad accepted President Donald Trump's nomination as the United States Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, which was later confirmed by the Senate on May 22, 2017. He was sworn into office on May 24th after which he met with Chinese and foreign media in the courtyard of the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador to China on June 28th. Looking forward to starting his new position, he hoped to be an important emissary between heads of state of China and the United States, bringing benefits to the people of both countries and around the world.