Premier Li Keqiang visited Tessa Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company in Singapore, accompanied by Singapore Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, on Nov 13.

Premier Li was welcomed by the management staff. Tessa Therapeutics was established by a young team, and their goal is to provide safe, effective and affordable treatment for cancer patients. The clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focuses on the development and commercialization of cancer immunotherapies, which is the artificial stimulation of the immune system to treat cancers.

Premier Li showed strong interest in the company’s core technology — selecting and stimulating T cells to proliferate and combat tumor cells. He listened to the introduction carefully and asked how to combine and complement the method with pharmacotherapy to fully play its role.

Premier Li then visited the company’s technology room, and viewed T cells being extracted and separated, cultivated, amplified and stored. He spoke highly of the company’s commitment to clinical research, which will help upgrade technology for fighting the types of cancer most frequently found in Asia.

The company is willing to cooperate with China to build more clinical laboratories, and provide services for patients all over the world.

Premier Li said that with China’s large population, there are over 3 million cancer patients diagnosed annually. The Chinese government is striving to provide better medical treatment and reduce costs.

Cooperation between the two countries in cancer-fighting technologies can mitigate the pain for patients, reduce burdens on their families, and also help explore new markets for Singaporean companies’ scientific and technological achievement, the Premier said.

The two sides can also explore multilateral cooperation, study the possibility of combining different treatments, and together make contributions to people’s health, the Premier added.