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China: The world’s next bioscience frontier

Rick Williams

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By Rick Williams, The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences

Editor’s note: Rick Williams is chief business officer at The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences.Local Tech Wire asked Williams to discuss the growing business relationship between The Hamner, North Carolina and China where an N.C. delegation will soon be visiting to recruit business. 

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. - The 2008 Olympics reminded everyone that China is on the move and wants to play a more prominent role on the world stage. This is an ideal time to develop new job-growth opportunities with China, North Carolina’s second largest trading partner.

The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park will accompany a North Carolina delegation, led by Gov. Bev Perdue and Secretary of Commerce Keith Crisco, on its upcoming trip to China. A small group of North Carolina legislators will also be visiting China at the same time.

Dr. William Greenlee, chief executive officer, and I are helping to organize bioscience seminars in Beijing (October 22) and Shanghai (October 26). We have been working closely with the Department of Commerce’s Asian representatives to build a bridge of technological innovation, using RTP’s leadership position in bioscience—a broad field that includes biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical technology, tissue engineering, nanotechnology, and botanical medicine—to create economic-development opportunities throughout North Carolina.

As chief business officer for The Hamner Institutes, I have spent considerable time in China during the past year developing research collaborations and talking to Chinese bioscience organizations about locating on our campus. Back home, I have been repeatedly asked questions such as “Why build stronger economic-development relationships with China?”; “Isn’t it risky to work with a Communist country?”; and “What about intellectual-property laws?”

A year ago, I had never been to China. Since then, I have made three extended trips there and helped to host eight Chinese delegations in RTP. At The Hamner, we have established joint research programs and business-development agreements with partners such as China Medical City, the Shanghai Center for Disease Control, and Newsummit Biopharma.

The pace of technological growth in China is staggering. For example, there are more than 50 RTP-like science parks in China supported by the central government and another 50 major regional parks. Last month, the European Union reported that China will surpass Europe in cutting-edge bioscience research by 2025.

Joseph Needham, an English scientist, was in China during WWII. Fluent in Mandarin, Needham uncovered documents about the Chinese discovery of small pox vaccination, gunpowder, printing, the compass, and many other innovations. He eventually wrote eighteen volumes about China’s remarkable scientific heritage. In the past thirty years, China has refocused on technology innovation as a key driver for economic success.

Though initially skeptical, I believe that China will become a world leader in bioscience. I have a unique perspective: As Genentech’s director of marketing, I helped to launch the biotechnology revolution. I now see China helping to fuel the next stage of growth with its own brilliant academic scientists and passionate entrepreneurs, applying the same risk-taking (“Wild West”) and stake-your-claim (“Gold Rush”) principles.

During the early days of biotechnology, however, California start-ups had minimal industry experience and almost no understanding of what it takes to navigate the FDA’s complex approval process. North Carolina, as the third-ranked U.S. biotechnology state, can help China to overcome those challenges—and build on the “Gov. James Hunt Japan Model.” When Gov. Hunt started his first term in 1977, there were only a handful of Japanese companies in North Carolina. Gov. Hunt subsequently made more than twenty trips to Japan and developed new high-tech partnerships. Now there are more than 150 Japanese companies in our state. We can replicate Gov. Hunt’s model with China today.

Since Deng Xiaoping took over after Mao Zedong’s death, and introduced market reform, entrepreneurialism has exploded throughout China. One might argue that the country has really evolved from a socialist market economy into a “single-party capitalistic system” where the population, after the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989, has made personal-rights concessions in exchange for advancing their standard of living.

It is hoped that Communist Party officials will expand personal freedoms as they work more closely with the United States—and as their economy becomes further intertwined with ours. (With nearly two trillion U.S. dollars in their banks, they have a great incentive to collaborate with America!) Chinese leaders also know that they must significantly improve their intellectual-property laws and regulatory safety standards.

North Carolina has a lot to offer China: Research Triangle Park, internationally acclaimed academic institutions, industry experts in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, regulatory training programs, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, and The Hamner Institutes; as well as leaders in cancer research, gene therapy, drug safety, biomedical devices, tissue engineering, nanotechnology, natural products, etc.

By cultivating technology collaborations with China, North Carolina will develop additional opportunities for its companies to increase exports while attracting more Chinese businesses to move here. Strong cooperation between North Carolina and China will accelerate economic development and create greater job opportunities.

The bioscience relationships formed today with China will become the partnerships of tomorrow.

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