Biotech: What Role Should Hong Kong Play?

Since the early 2000s, the West has shown increasing interests in using Chinese medicine as an alternative form of remedies. Coupled with an aging population and a continued interest in developing vaccines for infectious diseases, the Hong Kong government has made significant investment and taken various initiatives to make Hong Kong a hub for the biotech and life-sciences industries.

Over the past few years, the government has been actively supporting a number of biotech-related projects through the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF). Fast forward, the Hong Kong Institute of Biotechnology (HKIB) has now become one of the best-equipped manufacturing technology centers for vaccines and biopharmaceuticals in Asia, and the Hong Kong Science Park (HKSP) has come up as a hub for innovation. With initiatives and successes such as these, Hong Kong has attracted a large number of foreign biotech companies, including leaders such as Eli Lilly and CordLife.

Given its unique position and strategic relationship with the Mainland, no doubt Hong Kong can tap into the rich pool of Chinese medicine research to determine how to expand the uses of traditional Chinese medicine beyond the obvious. Yet, the opportunity for Hong Kong really lies in leveraging its traditional strengths to fill the gaps, and to continue to act as a gateway to China and vice versa.

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According to Nature Publishing Group, Chinese biotech sector is underfunded due to a lack of domestic venture capital and insufficient foreign investment. Venture capitalists avoid the country’s biotech industry because of a shortage of exit strategies and uncertainties in intellectual property (IP) protection, among others.

For VCs and biotech companies, the most effective way to capitalize on the wide ranging opportunities the sector has to offer is to go through Hong Kong. In terms of infrastructure resources, such as financing and IP protection, Hong Kong still stands high as a strategic intermediary and services hub for the biotech industry.

What do you think? Should Hong Kong focuses on research or capitalize on its traditional strengths as a service hub?