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Zhongguancun (ZGC) Life Science Park

Image of Chinese dragon. Jason Kuo, Rheoblast

09/15/10

The biotech contingent had a tour of Beijing Zhongguancun (ZGC) Life Science Park today. This science park is an ambitious effort ($800M US with three phases of construction) to foster the growth of biotech industry here. The science park hosts more than thirty large tenants (each with their own building) including companies and institutes, and in the next phase, an 1,800-bed hospital. There is also an incubator for smaller companies. We had the opportunity to visit several organizations in the park: CapitalBio, a biochip/microarray company; National Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co, Ltd., a hepatitis/HIV testing kit and vaccine manufacturer; Yantze River Pharmacy Group, which has a traditional Chinese medicine product for antipertussis; the National Institute of Biological Sciences; and a Beijing Zhonggauan Life Science Park biomedical Incubator Co.

An interesting observation is that many of these biotech companies are funded by the more traditional industries; the key to a success partnership does lie in the understanding that biotech industry requires a long term investment. However, once the products clear the regulatory approval for the market, the demand, as demonstrated by the sales figure of these companies, can be very high because of many unmet needs in the healthcare.