Tagged with Biotech,

Taiwan In an important milestone for Taiwan’s biotech industry, Diamond Biofund – one of the territory’s most well-established venture capital (VC) funds – became the first such firm to list on the Taiwan Stock Exchange last month.   Diamond, defines itself as an “evergreen” biotech venture capital fund, meaning that, unlike…

Hong Kong Well established as Asia’s leading financial services and trading hub, Hong Kong is now looking to better position itself as a centre for biotechnology investment and start-ups. However, in a risk-averse investment environment with strong basic research but little tradition of translational science, such a transformation will take time, capital,…

Korea A roundup of some of the most important recent stories from the burgeoning South Korean pharma and biotech industry, including a government plan to expand collaboration with the global innovation hub in Boston, US; a list of some of the country’s most important biotech companies; and Medtronic’s move to purchase…

Hong Kong A groundbreaking research scientist noted for his work in non-invasive blood-based diagnoses, Professor Dennis Lo currently holds a number of positions at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Lo, whose work was first commercialised via the company Cirina – later acquired by GRAIL – outlines his current research focus on…

Belgium Belgium’s Flanders region is a hotbed of biotech excellence, with numerous examples of university spin-offs being translated into commercial-stage companies and many of those later acquired by Big Pharma. Wouter Piepers of cluster organisation flanders.bio outlines the fundamentals behind this success story, and what potential future investors in Belgian biotech…

Hong Kong Professor Michael Yang of City University of Hong Kong (CityU) introduces the ‘HK Tech 300‘ programme he oversees, the largest university-based entrepreneurship programme in Asia. Drawing on his own experience as co-founder of Prenetics and Cellomics, biotech companies based on technologies developed in his laboratory at CityU, Professor Yang assesses…

Switzerland Taken from the recently published Swiss Biotech Report 2023, these figures cover major public and private financing transactions in Swiss biotech in the past year; major financing categories; capital investments in Swiss biotech companies; revenues, R&D expenses, profit/loss and liquidity; as well as well as the total number of biotech…

Belgium PDC*line Pharma’s Eric Halioula explains why he decided to establish a biotech in Belgium, outlines the progress that his immuno-oncology focused firm has made in clinical trials since our last conversation in 2020, and his hopes for establishing new alliances with manufacturers and Big Pharma players moving forward.   Our…

Hong Kong In 2022, the biotech sector felt the impact of the challenges facing global capital markets and Hong Kong was no exception. Last year, only eight biotech companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (HKEX), raising an aggregate of USD 473 million. Nonetheless, Hong Kong continues to serve…

Belgium With over 140 operating biotech companies representing almost a quarter of Europe’s biotech market and a strong network of universities and research institutes, Belgium boasts a solid biotech ecosystem that continues to thrive despite recent downturns in biotech financing. Beyond more well-known players like Argenx, acquired by Sanofi, and Galapagos,…

USA With a total R&D spend of USD 2.66 billion in 2022 and a pipeline that features cutting-edge technologies such as mRNA, cell therapy and gene editing, Vertex Pharmaceuticals is looking to deliver “serial innovation” by investing most of its resources in research. And while some other biopharma companies depend on…

China The latest news from the Chinese healthcare and life sciences industry, including the first public comments from Astellas CEO Naoki Okamura following an employee’s arrest on espionage charges in China, how the country’s drug pricing policy is impinging biotech profits, and the ways in which COVID-19 exposed the weaknesses in…