Abstract
Moving up the Value Chain: a Challenge for Asia Pacific Countries
Huge infrastructural investments required have thus far restrained private
participants from exploring the immense potential offered by the Asia Pacific
biotechnology markets, although this is gradually changing in countries such as
South Korea, India, and Taiwan. Success in this market hinges on a change of
focus: while most biotech companies have traditionally concentrated on
high-volume, low-value products such as recombinant vaccines, they will now need
to shift focus to research-intensive, high-value products such as biotech drugs.
To truly capitalize on the growth potential of the biotechnology market,
participants will have to rapidly move to a high-value base by encouraging basic
research in profitable therapeutic categories such as cancer and diabetes.
This Frost & Sullivan research is a comprehensive study of the status of
the biotechnology industry in the following countries of the Asia Pacific
region: Japan, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, China, and
India. It identifies and discusses major market drivers, challenges, restraints,
and emerging technologies; provides detailed market forecasts; and maps the
relative competitive positions of countries in this region.
Commercialization of Research Still a Hurdle
Biotech research in the Asia Pacific is largely conducted by government labs
and universities and is yet to achieve commercialization. Local biotech
companies lack the required infrastructure to carry out and commercialize
research. Collaborations with government research labs and universities are
likely to provide much-needed impetus for the growth of the biotech industry.
"Commercialization of biotech research through effective
industry-academia linkage is a critical success factor for the industry,"
say the analysts of this research. "The Asia Pacific region needs to build
the element of commercialization into the mindset of its researchers in
government-owned labs and universities to unlock the latent potential of the
huge science and technology manpower base as well as the knowledge base it
houses."
Protection of Intellectual Property Rights and Low-cost of R&D Drive
the Market
Growing recognition and protection in the Asia Pacific countries of
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) is expected to boost investments by both
domestic and international majors in biotech companies of the region as well as
aid foreign participants in setting up their firms here.
The low-cost R&D base offered by the Asia Pacific region presents further
opportunities for market expansion. With pharmaceutical companies coming under
increasing pressure to curtail R&D spending, they are now looking to niche
biotech companies globally to provide affordable research solutions.
Collaborations with such organizations can help pharmaceutical companies keep
drug discovery costs low and timelines short apart from boosting future bottom
lines. "This opportunity can be tapped by biotechnology companies in
countries such as India, China, and South Korea, where R&D costs are much
lower than that in the west," note the analysts.
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