BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioCapital China Summit 2009 - Beijing:

Roche, OrbiMed, and McKinsey officially launched the SEED Competition at the Beijing International Healthcare Industry Forum today. This is one of the first life sciences business plan competitions in Greater China.

SEED stands for “Scientists to Entrepreneurs, Education and Development.” The competition has been designed to help entrepreneurs startup companies in the life sciences and healthcare field, enhance the technology transfer and commercialization capabilities across the scientific community, and create a platform for commercialization of life sciences and healthcare innovations in China.

China’s innovation capabilities have grown considerably in recent years. However, there are significant gaps in transforming these scientific activities into successful commercial enterprises and products, especially in the healthcare and life science field. To address these gaps, the organizers have designed the SEED Competition to help entrepreneurs build companies. Any team with active academic affiliation in the Greater China, innovative ideas and operations based in Greater China, are qualified to participate. SEED participants will gain free training and education from the industry experts and senior executives.

Besides the Beijing launch, there will be two other similar kickoff meetings: one in Shanghai on December 11, 2009, and the other in Guangzhou on January 6, 2010. All seed events are presented by ChinaBio® LLC, a conference and consulting firm based in Shanghai.

SEED participants will have until February 14, 2010 to submit a presentation and an executive summary that describe their businesses. A panel of judges composed of industry experts, experienced investors and successful entrepreneurs will review the submission and select 10-15 finalists in March 2010. A special training day will then be held to provide additional coaching and training to the selected finalists. Afterwards, the finalists will submit a full business plan, and have the opportunity to present to the judges in the SEED Final Awards event in April 2010.

SEED gives participants a unique opportunity to receive coaching and training from industry experts, and the opportunity to win a cash prize of more than RMB 300,000. In addition, they will also gain significant exposure to potential investors and other stakeholders in the life sciences community.

During the Beijing SEED Competition launch event, executives from Roche, OrbiMed, McKinsey, and other invited experts and investors discussed the key success factors for start ups in the healthcare and life science field in China. Real life stories from both Western successful companies, such as Genentech, as well as domestic companies, such as Crown Biosciences from Beijing, were shared with the audience to illustrate the global and local industry best practices. Important issues in establishing a company, such as IP and financing, were discussed with industry experts and executives.

For more information about the SEED Competition, please visit www.seedcompetition.com

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche’s personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients.

In 2008, Roche had over 80’000 employees worldwide and invested almost 9 billion Swiss francs in R&D.

The Group posted sales of 45.6 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan.

For more information: www.roche.com

About OrbiMed

OrbiMed is the world’s largest healthcare and life sciences-dedicated investment firm, with approximately $5 billion in assets under management. Since inception of its private equity investment activities in 1993, OrbiMed has successfully invested in over 100 private companies across a wide range of therapeutic categories and stages of development. OrbiMed’s investment team includes over 30 experienced professionals with backgrounds in science, medicine, industry, finance and law. OrbiMed launched the first pan-Asia healthcare and life sciences-dedicated venture capital fund in 2008, with close to $200 million in commitments. OrbiMed maintains offices in New York City, Shanghai, Mumbai and San Francisco.

For more information: www.OrbiMed.com

About McKinsey & Company in Greater China

With over 8,000 consultants deployed from over 90 offices in 50 countries, McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm that advises companies and public institutions on issues concerning strategy, organization, operations, and technology. McKinsey's Greater China Practice comprises offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei. McKinsey has completed more than 1,000 projects in Greater China in the past two decades, helping leading local enterprises boost their global competitiveness, as well as assisting multinational companies seeking to expand their business in the region. www.china.mckinsey.com

About ChinaBio® LLC

Since its founding in 2007, ChinaBio LLC has rapidly launched a number of successful initiatives connecting China biotech with the world. With offices in Shanghai, Silicon Valley and San Diego, ChinaBio’s activities include:

• Conferences: Organizing life science investment and partnering forums in China.
• Consulting: Helping big pharma, entrepreneurs and investors achieve success in China.
• Research: Developing research data on technology development, investment, and partnering activity in China.
• ChinaBio^® Today: Publishing online and email newsletters focusing exclusively on China’s life science industry.

For more information: www.ChinaBioLLC.com.

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