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Developed/emerging market biotech firms convene at largest-ever meeting with global health focus

Partnerships to improve health in developing countries is goal in Toronto, May 2-4

Toronto will host a conference May 2-4 of 30 leading North American health biotechnology firms with over 30 counterparts from developing countries – the biggest-ever known assembly of emerging market biotech companies to focus on global health problems.

The goals are to:

• Foster potential collaborations between the North American and emerging market health biotech industries through company presentations and partnering events; and

• Help global health community leaders better appreciate how developing countries’ home-grown biotech sectors are building capacity to create innovative, locally-relevant drugs, vaccines and other health-related products.

Organized by the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, University Health Network and the University of Toronto, this three-day conference convenes leaders from the global health community and executives of biotechnology firms from India, China, Brazil, South Africa, Canada, and the United States, creating opportunity for potential collaborations and partnering.

Opening day discussions will center on strategies for developing innovative products to meet health needs in developing countries. Days two and three will serve primarily as a partnering opportunity, to foster networking, information exchange and learning.

Conference sessions take place at the MaRS Discovery District, 101 College Street, Toronto

Plenary speakers and their topics include:

"Mobilizing the Private Sector for Global Health Development."
Carol H. Dahl, Ph.D., Chief of Staff, Global Health Program & Director, Global Health Technologies, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"Strategies for Developing Health Products for the Bottom of the Pyramid."
C.K. Prahalad, Professor, University of Michigan.

Friday, May 4

"Health Biotechnology Innovation in Developing Countries: a Chinese Entrepreneur’s Perspective."
Zhaohui Peng, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Shenzhen Sibiono Gen-Tech

For media pre-registration to any events, detailed online at http://www.utoronto.ca/jcb/genomics/html/conference.htm, please contact mrc.conference@utoronto.ca

Many of the global issues involved are hightlighted in an MRC paper published in the current edition of Nature Biotechnology magazine.

Please see:
India's health biotech sector at a crossroads (Nature Biotechnology)
(www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v25/n4/pdf/nbt0407-403.pdf)

and associated coverage:

Study suggests India's health biotechnology companies set to boom (Associated Press)
(www.boston.com/business/technology/biotechnology/articles/2007/04/09/study_india_health_biotech_cos_to_boom/)

and

'India is innovating its way out of poverty' (Rediff, India)
(http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2007/apr/18inter3.htm)

For full conference information: www.geneticsethics.net

The McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, Program on Life Sciences, Ethics and Policy is based at the University Health Network / McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine at the University of Toronto. Created in 2001 and led by Professors Abdallah Daar and Peter A. Singer, the program’s mission is to harness and foster innovative technology for global health equity, optimizing its benefits and minimizing social risks.

Alternate contact: Ms. Alysha Shore, +1-416-673-6554, mrc.conference@utoronto.ca

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