Biocytogen’s President & CEO, Dr. Yuelei Shen, Speaks at Harvard China Forum at Harvard University
Harvard College China Forum, an annual Harvard tradition for 22 years, welcomed and opened to 1,200 domestic and international participants and over 100 domestic and international speakers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, on April 12-14, 2019.
Biocytogen’s President & CEO, Dr. Yuelei Shen, WuXi AppTec’s US CEO, Dr. Richard Connell, and BlackRock’s healthscience fund manager, Dr. Erin (Hongying) Xie, were invited to speak at the conference’s Pharmaceuticals Panel by the panel moderator Ms. Shau (Xiaoqing) Zhang from EY and the conference’s organizing committee.
The panel discussed the present and future of the China pharmaceutical industry, its unique positions, advantages and challenges when compared with world leading pharmaceutical companies, capital market and regulatory affairs’ roles in China’s growing drug development efforts, and people talents needs and proposed solutions. The distinguished speakers provided their insights in these areas and exchanged views with the audience that were highly relevant to the continued development of China pharmaceutical industry at the Harvard Science Center on April 13, 2019.
During the panel discussion, Dr. Yuelei Shen introduced Biocytogen’s vision, history, and rapid growth since its founding in 2008, in particular the remarkable expansion of its distinct and innovative genetically humanized animal models and their contributions to China’s explosive immuno-oncology drug development in recent years. Dr. Shen also discussed additional current and upcoming breakthroughs by Biocytogen’s ever expanding platforms in not only immuno-oncology, but also autoimmune diseases. He stated that Biocytogen would continue its growth momentum in the foreseeable future with new disruptive innovations and fully integrated one-stop drug discovery value chains to help speed up new drug development in China and worldwide. Specifically, he pointed out the recent establishment of a brand-new site in the US Boston area that provides in vivo and in vitro pharmacology services close to our Boston and other US area’s customers. Dr. Shen encouraged conference attendees to contribute to discovery of new medicines for patients worldwide.
WuXi AppTec’s US CEO, Dr. Richard Connell, a 30-year drug R&D veteran having worked in both Pfizer and Bayer, provided an overview of Wuxi’s CRO business both in China and overseas. He pointed out that WuXi, currently by far the largest drug discovery CRO in China, had been pursuing a comprehensive full-service paradigm in their efforts to serve their global customers.
Dr. Erin (Hongying) Xie, managing the $3.9 billion World Healthscience fund in the world largest asset management company, BlackRock, was the only one among global healthcare fund managers who beat the industry’s index five years in a row. She stated that although there had been considerable gap between Chinese and the world leading pharmaceutical companies, Chinese drug companies, as well as the increasingly prominent Chinese CROs in this space, had accomplished commendable achievements in me-too and novel new drug development. The recent hugely successful IPOs and stock market appreciations of China’s leading drug companies and CROs had attracted attention and capital from large international healthcare funds. Both Drs. Xie and Connell believed that the opportunity of China’s pharmaceutical industry is today!
Conference attendees, who were students, scholars, and professionals from many areas in the US and the world, actively asked questions related to the forum’s topics in a packed lecture room, which were addressed by the panelists. Dr. Shen’s honest, practical, and humorous responses resulted in multiple laughter from the audience. After the panel discussion was over, many attendees went to the podium to continue their discussions and exchanges with the speakers and moderator.
This Pharmaceuticals Panel was moderated by Ms. Shau (Xiaoqing) Zhang. Ms. Zhang is partner and the Americas’ leader of China Overseas Investment Network in EY (Ernst & Young) US, one of the four largest international accounting firms (Big-4). She has over 21 years of experience in multiple industries, including real estate, private equity, university endowment funds, biotech, manufacturing and so on. She is a member of the Business Advisory Board of New York Asia Society, and was elected awardee of Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business in 2016.
