Sponsored Insight
Zai Lab is blazing a new path to realizing our vision of becoming a leading global biopharmaceutical company. Our company is focused on discovering, developing and delivering treatments that address serious diseases in the areas of greatest patient need. We are committed to building the public’s Trust for Life as part of our vision. As a company — and with employees, investors, and other stakeholders located in China and the United States — we recognize that there are geopolitical tensions between these two global superpowers. However, we seek to overcome the potential effects of these tensions through our commitment to ethics, integrity, and transparency and by bringing high-quality treatments to patients in need in the U.S., China and beyond.
At Zai, as we continue to grow globally, we are committed to growing your trust through our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy, a key piece of our business strategy, which we call “Trust for Life.” We are committed because we know that working in the intimate space of human health requires that you trust us — literally — with your life.
I’ve read many articles that share how ESG isn’t translating at the public level. Through our Trust Report, I attempt to explain our Trust for Life commitments, actions, and targets, using nontechnical language, and to demonstrate how at Zai — because we are focused on developing and delivering innovative medicines to improve human health — our work falls mainly under the “S” for “Social” impact in the acronym ESG.
At Zai, we are making three commitments to earn your Trust for Life:
1. Improve human health. We strive to accelerate development, delivery, and access to best-in-class and first-in-class products so that treatments can be provided to the people who need them fairly, affordably and as quickly as possible. That’s how we plan to impact one million patients by 2030.
2. Create better outcomes. Our mission says it best: We seek to accelerate advanced medicines to help people triumph over serious diseases. We are focused on responsible research and development, working to innovate in disease areas where patients have the greatest needs, such as oncology, autoimmune disorders, and infectious and neurological diseases. We also recognize the advancements technology is making to improve human health and are committed to integrating technology in or where it will yield the best possible solutions for the greatest number of people.
We seek to build trust by showing you how much we care not only about delivering better outcomes for patients but also how much we care about the employees and communities we serve. Although ESG rating indexes say that diversity, equity and inclusion aren’t necessary components of a biopharmaceutical company’s ESG strategy, at Zai, we believe these are integral to our strategy and success. For example, we believe that clinical trials should reflect the makeup of the diverse patient population of the communities we serve. We are also committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our workforce. Regarding gender diversity, women comprise 58% of our employees, holding 53.8% of our management positions and 38.9% of top management positions. Proudly, we have achieved salary and hourly wage equity at all levels within Zai Lab. Our goal is to maintain gender equity in leadership and base pay.
As with any strategy, our ESG strategy must align with our business. For Zai, the ways we contribute to environmental sustainability, the “E” for “Environment” in ESG, may look slightly different than others. For example, we don’t extract or deforest the planet for product sourcing. As a result, at Zai, we seek to do our part to protect our planet and transition to a net zero greenhouse gas emissions future. We have been rooted in environmental protection from the start and are committed to growing green.
3. Act right now. At Zai, we are committed to acting ethically, and this commitment underlies our entire corporate governance strategy, the “G” for “Governance” in ESG. We are committed to strong governance practices; to operate within the rules, processes, and practices which govern our company. This means we are focused on achieving our business targets and timelines correctly. We seek to operate with integrity and transparency, by our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. We also reinforce our commitment to act right now by addressing the biggest risks that could prevent us from achieving our mission.
In the future, you can expect much more from Zai on this topic as we seek to earn your Trust for Life.
For more, please read Zai Lab’s entire Trust Report available here.