As global pharmaceutical companies grapple with the high cost of research and development (R&D), attention is beginning to shift toward China as a potential hub for innovation in biotechnology.

As a growth area for biotech development, China has several cards stacked in its favour. The country has a sizeable scientific workforce, thanks to decades of government support for research institutes and science education. Tax incentives and other concessions are available to encourage R&D. The regulatory environment is more relaxed, which could fuel development of innovative drug therapies that are expensive to develop and test in the West.

Furthermore, the Chinese market for prescription drugs is growing: within four years, the country is poised to become the world's fifth-largest market for pharmaceuticals, with likely annual sales of US$25 billion.

While much of the biotech industry in China is funded and run by the government, companies have been cropping up in the private (including foreign-funded) sector to leverage Chinese scientific talent and low research costs. Many of these private biotechs have been founded by returnees - Chinese scientists who have come back to China after stints working or studying in the United States or Europe.

Source:佚名