Indianapolis-headquartered pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company attended the second China International Import Expo with its latest medicine Taltz to moderate severe plaque psoriasis.

During the news conference on Thursday, a total of 17 Chinese domestic pharmaceutical companies signed intention agreements with Eli Lilly for the purchase of Taltz. The medicine has been approved by China's National Products Administration in September.

Eli Lilly and Company was not present at last year's CIIE. Julio Gay-Ger, president and general manager of Lilly China, said that they "were positively surprised by the huge success that CIIE had last year".

"So we really want to be part of the CIIE in the second year. We have had in the last 12 months five new molecular entities launched in China. This is very close to our record. More importantly, we have up to 40 new launches in the next seven to 10 years. We are bringing innovations to Chinese patients which will make a huge difference to them," he said.

Gay-Ger said the company has had expectations for Lilly China's sales and business growth.

"China is the second-largest pharmaceutical market in the world today. It is supposed to be the No 1 pharmaceutical market in the future. It is our top priority market and that is why we are investing so heavily and bringing so much innovation here," he said.

Lilly set up its Shanghai office in 1918, which was the first overseas office for the US pharmaceutical company. Lilly China's overall growth rate for the first half of 2019 exceeded 30 percent, reaching a record high throughout the company's 101-year history in China.

Ever since 2013, Lilly has invested about $320 million to build an insulin production facility in Suzhou. The site is set to be an integral part of Lilly's global supply chain, providing insulin products for China, Europe and other markets across the world in 2019.

"In the future, we can have new launches in China simultaneously or almost simultaneously with other markets in the world. That progress is in part because of the great reform that government is taking, which offers great opportunity to have all that happen," he said.