Encounters with Alumni from Greater China

Oxford In China > Featured Alumni Profiles > Anthony Wu

Dr Anthony Wu, a former China Oxford Scholarship Fund (COSF) scholar, shares how Oxford shaped the person he is today. He also discusses the work he has been doing in the pharmaceutical industry and how lucky he is to lead the largest donation program in primary care in China, which will benefit over 300,000 patients, for a breakthrough diabetic drug (Forxiga) that was approved in March 2017.
​

Self Introduction

My name is Boshen Wu (伍博深) and "Bo Shen" literarily means "covering wide " and " burrowing deep".  It is often meant for the pursuit of knowledge. I suspect that was what my family meant when they decided on my name.

In fact, I have two undergraduate degrees from Peking University, one in Pharmacy and one in Economics before I went to University of Oxford as a D.Phil student in Chemistry under supervision of Prof. Jeremy Robertson. However, I want to continue being ‘Bo’ and ‘Shen’ beyond academic achievements. I used to be a business consultant in Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, focusing on pharmaceutical industries; and I am now a manager in AstraZeneca, overseeing diabetic medicines, with the aim to enhance affordability of 100 million diabetic patients in China; and I will be an MBA candidate at Stanford University in 2017 fall to further explore ways to lower healthcare costs.

​As a former China Oxford Scholarship Fund (COSF) scholar, I now serve as a panel member and donor of COSF. I help to interview and select outstanding candidates to receive grants to support their study in Oxford. COSF prides itself in its pastoral care in a “family way” which sets it apart from other Oxford connected scholarship programs. As a former COSF beneficiary, I am proud to know great individuals, give back to the organization as an alumnus and support outstanding individuals to pursuit their studies in city of dreaming spires.

Attending 48 Group Club 60th anniversary, the Great Hall of People, Beijing

Attending COSF-British Parliament luncheon with MPs, London

​My Story

My grandfather is a carpenter with a merely primary school level education; however, he became both an architecture engineer and a mechanical engineer by self-learning, built numerous “homes” for his peer people in China and left a legacy to his younger generations. The title "Exemplary Worker of the People" was an award that carried honor to my family for life. It was a National Award for significant contribution to the nation and my grandfather received this award from Chairman Mao himself back in 1970s.

​​I cannot overstate the powerful influence from my grandfather who has imprinted on my identity and pride. As a young adult, it is my inspiration to dedicate my life time with one simple mission: provide affordable medicine to Chinese people, especially those with limited means.

​​I have been working in the pharmaceutical industry since graduation from Oxford University in 2012. I know that we make breakthroughs in medicine each year, but these advances are not accessible to many Chinese people. To give a vivid example, the company that I work for, AstraZeneca, will be rolling out a new drug in China in 2017 that will freeze tumor growth in most patients with terminal Stage IV lung cancer for an average of nearly ten months, effectively giving them ten more months to live. The problem is, however, the cost for this drug per patient is more than 2,000 RMB per day, while the average daily income in China is well under 100.

With AstraZeneca global executives, internal PR meeting, Shanghai

​​The idea of enhancing accessibility of critical medicines was at the core of my graduate research at Oxford, where I worked to develop techniques that could synthesize organic compounds that are found in medicines but occur rarely in nature. As an example, I designed a biochemical process that was able to synthesize a survival enhancement agent at 1% of the former production cost. For my work, I was eventually awarded the ‘thesis commendation’, a rare honor given to Oxford D.Phil students.

With global team, American Diabetes Association annual congress (2016), Boston

Oxford University is a place that nurtures me as a person and helps realize my personal aspiration. Besides the facilities and academic staff that are second-to-none in the globe, Oxford sets itself apart from other universities in that it develops students as an individual and encourages students to think and solve problem independently; also I can feel to heart the all-rounded caring from Oxford staffs- from the lodge in the college, the librarian in Bodleian, to my supervisor who is a life fighter to leukemia and dedicated himself to Chemistry.
​
​The idea of providing affordable medicines also influenced my work at Roland Berger and AstraZeneca, where I worked out the pricing system and other macro drivers in the Chinese pharmaceutical market and mapped out an effective way to accelerate a drug’s inclusion on the national reimbursement list, which would make the listed drug free for Chinese patients. In addition, I am lucky enough to lead the largest donation program in primary care in China, which will benefit over 300,000 patients, for a breakthrough diabetic drug (Forxiga) that was approved in March 2017.

In the Robertson lab, Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Oxford

Graduation ceremony, Sheldonian Theatre, University of Oxford

​​In the long run, I hope I can lead a pharmaceutical company that is on par with the best ones globally - be it a giant or a boutique- and work closely with reforming influences in the government towards a more affordable healthcare market in China.

I often ask myself: “if we can reduce the cost of reducing pharmaceutical drugs by one order of magnitude, how many more lives can we save?” In China, this actual, very large number is unknown, but it is real and the idea is deeply inspiring.

August 2017