Boston, MA 09/11/19 - At the recent RESI conference in the Boston, Viva Biotech Chief Business Officer and Head of Viva BioInnovator, David Xu, Ph.D., was featured on the “China Cross-Border Partnerships” Panel. Xu said of the panel, “It was great to see so many people on both sides of the Pacific who are motivated and willing to work together. There are a plethora of opportunities for greater innovation when we increase the level of collaboration. I’m excited that Viva is in a position where we can bring these sides together and have our facilities act their cradle to create and develop life-saving therapeutics.” He continued, "This conference brings together a fantastic group of people who all have their focus on the future. There are many people I spoke with while here that I'm looking forward to continuing our conversation to invest or help them take advantage of Viva's renown drug discovery CRO services."
David Xu speaking on the “China Cross-Border Partnerships” Panel
David Xu speaking with Dennis Ford, Founder & CEO of Life Science Nation (LSN) and Creator of
RESI Conference Series at the “RESI ASIA: Enhancing your Global Reach” round table discussion
One of the panel’s main point of focus was how China has become a hotbed of early-stage drug discovery. Due to the advancement of the regulatory environment and government policies, the increasing availability of skilled personnel, access to capital and CRO services, China is now the ideal location for early and novel drug discovery. And the world is rapidly taking notice with many of the largest pharmas and small biotechs working with Chinese companies. Devices are also an area that has seen a recent meteoric rise in both sales and investor interest in the China market.
One point of potential concern expressed by all panelists are the CFIUS regulations. The general agreement is that while M&A activity may slow down as the data has already shown, the project investment and in-licenses continues as before albeit with a more cautious tone. The definition for the “evolving and foundational technologies”, which will dictate the mandatory filing, is still not yet released. The panel’s consensus is to “proceed with caution for all investments.
