Me in Suzhou's SND, China: High-tech powerhouse
More globetrotting…
Hot on the heels of the BIO Japan 2009 conference I flew over to Shanghai and made the 150 km trip west to Suzhou – an ancient city mainly known in the past for silk production and UNESCO heritage sites, but now a powerhouse for high-tech manufacturing and biotechnology .
Suzhou has two major biotechnology sites: Bio-Bay (joint venture with Singapore) and Suzhou New District (SND). My visit was to the SND region.
Is biotech going down the tubes?
The recent 2009 BIO International Convention in Atlanta was a fairly gloomy affair with attendance significantly down and a clear absence of swag in the exhibition area. Not only that, but during the meeting several industry pundits had the temerity to raise the question: “is the biotech model broken?”
Ernst & Young’s Glen Giovanetti (Global Biotechnology Leader) recently spoke with Burrill & Company to give his perspective on these troubling times. Here are some of the main themes discussed:
The future ain't so bright
The 2009 Canadian Life Sciences Industry Forecast has been released. It makes disturbing reading.
The report, prepared by BIOTECanada and Pricewaterhouse Coopers, was based on interviews with 167 respondents from public and private life sciences and biotechnology businesses representing a total of approximately 5,000 employees across Canada with combined revenues of ~$2 billion.
Human neural stem cells
Image courtesy Yirui Sun, Wellcome Images
Pharma just loves stem cells these days. The latest evidence of this infatuation with the sector is the May 7 announcement by Pfizer of its further plans for stem cell development within the Pfizer Regenerative Medicine division.
The company had previously announced the establishment of R&D sites at both the Cambridges (UK and MA) and also deals with Cellartis AB and UC San Francisco. The most recent announcement provides details of what Pfizer is aiming to do.
