AsianScientist (Jun. 23, 2011) – Chinese and British pharmaceutical companies are planning to develop 30 new drugs in the coming decade, according to a China-UK Partnership in Healthcare proposal signed last Friday.
The announcement was made by David Wilkinson, who was representing UK’s National Institute for Medical Research at the China Bioindustry Convention 2011 (BioChina) held in Shenzhen, China.
The cooperation will last from discovery to development phase, through to clinical use, and approval for sale in the global market.
The proposal, backed by both governments, is estimated to involve nearly 1 billion yuan (US$154 million) in investment. About US$17 million would come from the UK.
While most of the R&D work would be done in Europe, Wilkinson said he would increase the number of staff working at Chinese laboratories to 80 this year.
Wilkinson said China is appealing to many Western firms as it is poised to evolve into the world’s second largest pharmaceutical market around 2015.
The Chinese government has injected US$960 million dollars into the biopharmaceutical sector from 2008 to 2010 to boost R&D innovation.
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Source: Xinhua.
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