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Catalan companies seek out new business opportunities in the life sciences in China

Biocat is organizing a trade mission with visits to research bodies and two key partnering events, from 26 to 31 May, in the Shanghai area with 13 European companies.

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By Biocat

Biocat, under the framework of the bioXclusters project, is organizing a trade mission to China from 26 to 31 May to get a first-hand look at the many business opportunities this country offers and foster collaboration between Catalan and Chinese companies in order to attract funding and foster joint development.

This is a joint mission with the four leading life sciences bioregions that make up this European project: Bavaria, Catalonia, Piedmont and Rhône-Alpes. In this sense, one of the main advantages of the mission is that the 13 participating companies, which belong to the four regions, will not only have the chance to interact with Chinese partners but also with each other.

The activities will focus on the Shanghai area. A series of top-notch visits have been scheduled to some of the most important science and technology parks (Shanghai Juke Biotech Park, Suzhou Institute of Nanotech and Nanobionics, Shanghai BioBay and ZhangJian HighTech Park), leading university research hospitals, clusters and other institutions from the sector in China to get a first-hand look and understand the Chinese healthcare system.

Companies will also participate in two key partnering events to introduce themselves in this market, the 15th Shanghai International Forum on Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Industry (BIO Forum Shanghai) and Sino-Euro Bio-Partnering (SEBP).

The BIO-Forum is one of the benchmark congresses in the sector, focusing this year on creating, analyzing and identifying cooperation opportunities as a driving force for industrial development. In addition to the 600 delegates from around the world that the event normally attracts, some one hundred renowned experts, entrepreneurs and representatives from local and foreign governments have also been invited to participate in conferences and debates. These include Biocat CEO Dr. Montserrat Vendrell, who will give a conference on European bioregions, highlighting their strengths and partnership strategies, and explaining the example of the bioXclusters project.

SEBP, sponsored by Biocat, is co-organized by the bioXclusters project and G-Med Consulting, which is presided over by Chinese life sciences consultant Gao Ronghui, who participated in a workshop on the Chinese market in Barcelona on 25 January. This partnering forum features various world-renowned speakers from the field of the life sciences, in addition to participants from other clusters and companies from around Europe and China.

Three Catalan companies in China

Three of the 13 companies participating in the trade mission are from the BioRegion of Catalonia. Firstly, biopharmaceutical firm Archivel Farma, specializing in tuberculosis treatments, like the RUTI® vaccine, which complements the standard therapy. Thus, for the company’s CEO Olga Rué, this visit to China is "a way to see the reality of tuberculosis in the country and how the diseases is managed by those in charge of public health." Archivel also aims to "initiate contacts to find a partner interested in co-developing the RUTI® vaccine and, in particular, introducing it into China." In fact, the company has been selected to give a presentation at BIO Forum Shanghai.

Enantia, devoted to chemical research and development, is participating in the mission to China with two objectives, as CEO Dr. Joan Feixas explains, "We want to contact European and Chinese companies to forge commercial relations and we are also going to sign a collaboration agreement with Synthetics-China." Synthetics-China is a fine chemicals company that manufactures intermediate and active ingredients for pharmaceutical companies around the world. Feixas explains that "Enantia has developed chemical technology to prepare a key chemical intermediate for antiplatelet drugs affordably, competitively and with high purity. We will take advantage of the visit to speak about this project and evaluate new ones."

Finally, Janus Developments, which acquires early-stage research projects by investing in their development until they can be transferred to companies that can take them to market, aims to "purchase licenses for biomedical knowledge from Chinese research institutes and universities to incorporate in their portfolio of projects in development," explains CEO Lluís Ruíz-Àvila.

China, a growing biotechnology market

The bioXclusters partners have chosen China as one of the priority markets for a joint internationalization strategy because the health sector has seen growth above 20% per year over the past 10 years. Although this growth is expected to slow, figures are well above those in the so-called developed countries. Biotechnology is a strategic and preferential sector in the Chinese government’s 12th Five-Year Plan 2011-2015 and, recently, the Minister for Health announced an additional $11,800 millions for innovation in biopharma from 2016 to 2020. This investment aims to produce top-notch scientific talent and double the number of jobs in the biotechnology industry.

Given this situation, the partners of the bioXclusters project aim to foster knowledge of and access to the Chinese market for companies in the four regions. In fact, some companies from the BioRegion of Catalonia are already established in China: Grifols, Bioibérica, Almirall, Biokit, Biovet, Deltalab, Esteve, Farmaprojects, Invesa, JP Selecta, Laboratorios Hipra, Salvat, Laboratorios Maymo, and Lacer, among others.

Related information:

See all news on the bioXclusters project.

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