I have spent Sunday attending sessions of BIO's
International Program. There was a ministerial seminar
to kickoff the morning, with representation from
Germany, the European Commission, Malaysia, Taiwan and
India. I caught the tail end of the Malaysia talk, and
the Taiwan/India sessions.
Kapil Sibal - who was listed inaccurately as a
Minister of State for Science, Technology & Ocean
Development in India (I believe he is currently a
union minister for science & technology) - was
somewhat animated in addressing the state of India
biotech/pharma. He said that India's greatest
opportunity is in clinical trials, where the country
offers significant cost reductions vs. the US and
Europe. Intellectual property protection was another
area of emphasis. India has been adding patent offices
and staff; Kapil mentioned the recent addition of 200
patent examiners, as well as 30 trademark examiners.
Patent applications are increasing dramatically -
Kapil said that 4,800 patent applications were
received in 2000, and that figure has now leapt to
18,000. He said 80 percent of the applications are
from outside India, indicating growing confidence in
the intellectual property regime.
The bioagricultural sector is growing in India, with
the embrace of genetically modified crops. A fun fact
among dozens that will arrive the next few days: India
is the 2nd largest producer of rice and wheat.
Taiwan's representative - Dr. Ferng-Ching Lin,
Minister of State & Co-Covenor - threw out some mind
boggling #s, at least relative to the size of Taiwan.
Taiwan presently has 38,000 workers employed in the
biotech/pharma/medical devices arena, and its biotech
sector had $5 billion in total revenue during 2005.
Among its companies, 20% are in the area of
diagnostics.
Taiwan is also pushing the notion that it offers
cheaper clinical trials than the US & Europe. Today's
theme has certainly been take your clinical trials
abroad and save money.
Intellectual property protection remains a primary
concern among many in the audience as they look at
overseas markets. During the Q&A session, one attendee
said that he was encouraged by the panel's focus on IP
protection, but his company has had extremely negative
experiences in Asia. Without identifying a specific
country, he mentioned a situation where his company
had a product submitted to a drug council and it wound
up being genericized before they got in the market.
=============================================
In the afternoon, I attended a breakout session
focusing on China's biotech industry. It goes without
saying that representatives also touted the low cost
of R&D and clinical trials in China. Wang Hongguang,
Director-General for China's National Center for
Biotechnology Development, said that the cost of R&D
is 20% of that in Western countries. And they're not
bashful about identifying part of the reason either;
Hongguang said that the average R&D employee receives
a salary which is one tenth of what an R&D employee
receives in the United States. Wages in a race to the
bottom?
Further claims in the realm of clinical trials:
Hongguang said one could expect to save 80% of the
cost and 50% of the time in conducting clinical trials
in China. "Please don't hesitate to cooperate with
(the) sleeping giant," he said in concluding his
remarks.
Growth in China is nothing short of remarkable. Shang
Yuying, Vice Governor for the Pudong District of
Shanghai Municipal Government, highlighted the
advances in Pudong. Pudong's share of GDP has soared
from $6 billion in 1990 to $210.8 billion today. I'll
spare you the math, but that's a 35-fold increase.
Over 15 years! Pudong is a fertile ground for
international pharmaceutical companies - Roche & Eli
Lilly have both set up R&D centers there, and there
are a slew of other companies. Don't quote me on this,
but I believe one of Shang's slides showed that Roche
& GSK have set up manufacturing operations in Pudong.
Great progress is also being made in Guangzhou. Dr.
Ling Chen - Director General for the Guangzhou
Institute of Biomedicine & Health (GIBH), Chinese
Academy of Sciences - talked about the setup of a new
institute with an R&D team of 180 people. It has
centers for molecular medicine, emerging diseases,
synthetic & natural product drugs, vaccines &
biotherapeutics, and preclinical research. Among 18
researchers added in the last year, half have
experience working for major pharma/biotech companies
such as Merck, BMS, and Amgen. Many of their personnel
have received PHDs abroad.
The drug discovery pipleine at GIBH focuses on
infectious disease (HIV), cancer, and metabolic and CV
disease (including natural products for treating
obsesity, small molecules for diabetes).
The overall business environment appears favorable in
Guangzhou. FedEx's Asian-Pacific hub recently
relocated to the city, said Chen. Transportation:
there are direct flights to business centers like Los
Angeles, Paris, Frankfurt, etc. And the city itself is
only a 90 minute train ride from Hong Kong. And at the
risk of sounding like a propaganda official in the
city's economic development office, I'll note that GDP
per capita is higher than in both Shanghai and
Beijing. Dr. Chen described Guangzhou as having a "low
cost of living for a Hong Kong lifestyle." I'll stay
in New York for now, but keep it in mind.
Even though China's IP landscape is deeply questioned,
companies continue to set up operations there, noted
the China track moderator. Companies with R&D centers
in China: Pfizer, Lilly, Roche, Novartis. Patent
applications were up 35% in 2005. Patents received
from foreign applicants were up 24%, rising from
74,864 to 93,107. But are things really any better?
The moderator noted that there was recently a Supreme
Court judgment lowering criminal liabilities for
intellectual property infringers. That's not exactly
the type of news which inspires confidence.
International Program. There was a ministerial seminar
to kickoff the morning, with representation from
Germany, the European Commission, Malaysia, Taiwan and
India. I caught the tail end of the Malaysia talk, and
the Taiwan/India sessions.
Kapil Sibal - who was listed inaccurately as a
Minister of State for Science, Technology & Ocean
Development in India (I believe he is currently a
union minister for science & technology) - was
somewhat animated in addressing the state of India
biotech/pharma. He said that India's greatest
opportunity is in clinical trials, where the country
offers significant cost reductions vs. the US and
Europe. Intellectual property protection was another
area of emphasis. India has been adding patent offices
and staff; Kapil mentioned the recent addition of 200
patent examiners, as well as 30 trademark examiners.
Patent applications are increasing dramatically -
Kapil said that 4,800 patent applications were
received in 2000, and that figure has now leapt to
18,000. He said 80 percent of the applications are
from outside India, indicating growing confidence in
the intellectual property regime.
The bioagricultural sector is growing in India, with
the embrace of genetically modified crops. A fun fact
among dozens that will arrive the next few days: India
is the 2nd largest producer of rice and wheat.
Taiwan's representative - Dr. Ferng-Ching Lin,
Minister of State & Co-Covenor - threw out some mind
boggling #s, at least relative to the size of Taiwan.
Taiwan presently has 38,000 workers employed in the
biotech/pharma/medical devices arena, and its biotech
sector had $5 billion in total revenue during 2005.
Among its companies, 20% are in the area of
diagnostics.
Taiwan is also pushing the notion that it offers
cheaper clinical trials than the US & Europe. Today's
theme has certainly been take your clinical trials
abroad and save money.
Intellectual property protection remains a primary
concern among many in the audience as they look at
overseas markets. During the Q&A session, one attendee
said that he was encouraged by the panel's focus on IP
protection, but his company has had extremely negative
experiences in Asia. Without identifying a specific
country, he mentioned a situation where his company
had a product submitted to a drug council and it wound
up being genericized before they got in the market.
=============================================
In the afternoon, I attended a breakout session
focusing on China's biotech industry. It goes without
saying that representatives also touted the low cost
of R&D and clinical trials in China. Wang Hongguang,
Director-General for China's National Center for
Biotechnology Development, said that the cost of R&D
is 20% of that in Western countries. And they're not
bashful about identifying part of the reason either;
Hongguang said that the average R&D employee receives
a salary which is one tenth of what an R&D employee
receives in the United States. Wages in a race to the
bottom?
Further claims in the realm of clinical trials:
Hongguang said one could expect to save 80% of the
cost and 50% of the time in conducting clinical trials
in China. "Please don't hesitate to cooperate with
(the) sleeping giant," he said in concluding his
remarks.
Growth in China is nothing short of remarkable. Shang
Yuying, Vice Governor for the Pudong District of
Shanghai Municipal Government, highlighted the
advances in Pudong. Pudong's share of GDP has soared
from $6 billion in 1990 to $210.8 billion today. I'll
spare you the math, but that's a 35-fold increase.
Over 15 years! Pudong is a fertile ground for
international pharmaceutical companies - Roche & Eli
Lilly have both set up R&D centers there, and there
are a slew of other companies. Don't quote me on this,
but I believe one of Shang's slides showed that Roche
& GSK have set up manufacturing operations in Pudong.
Great progress is also being made in Guangzhou. Dr.
Ling Chen - Director General for the Guangzhou
Institute of Biomedicine & Health (GIBH), Chinese
Academy of Sciences - talked about the setup of a new
institute with an R&D team of 180 people. It has
centers for molecular medicine, emerging diseases,
synthetic & natural product drugs, vaccines &
biotherapeutics, and preclinical research. Among 18
researchers added in the last year, half have
experience working for major pharma/biotech companies
such as Merck, BMS, and Amgen. Many of their personnel
have received PHDs abroad.
The drug discovery pipleine at GIBH focuses on
infectious disease (HIV), cancer, and metabolic and CV
disease (including natural products for treating
obsesity, small molecules for diabetes).
The overall business environment appears favorable in
Guangzhou. FedEx's Asian-Pacific hub recently
relocated to the city, said Chen. Transportation:
there are direct flights to business centers like Los
Angeles, Paris, Frankfurt, etc. And the city itself is
only a 90 minute train ride from Hong Kong. And at the
risk of sounding like a propaganda official in the
city's economic development office, I'll note that GDP
per capita is higher than in both Shanghai and
Beijing. Dr. Chen described Guangzhou as having a "low
cost of living for a Hong Kong lifestyle." I'll stay
in New York for now, but keep it in mind.
Even though China's IP landscape is deeply questioned,
companies continue to set up operations there, noted
the China track moderator. Companies with R&D centers
in China: Pfizer, Lilly, Roche, Novartis. Patent
applications were up 35% in 2005. Patents received
from foreign applicants were up 24%, rising from
74,864 to 93,107. But are things really any better?
The moderator noted that there was recently a Supreme
Court judgment lowering criminal liabilities for
intellectual property infringers. That's not exactly
the type of news which inspires confidence.
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