A Medical Device Daily

An event held in Washington earlier this week focused on China's current and future capabilities to become a leading global nanotechnology nation.

"China is betting that their growing investment in nanoscience will help them capture a large share of what shortly will become a $3 trillion global market in nanotech manufactured goods, and that breakthroughs in nanotechnology research and commercialization will confer economic superpower status on the country that attains first mover advantage in this cutting-edge technology," said Richard Appelbaum, a professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

He added, "The Chinese government clearly understands that enhanced nanotechnology research capacity and marketable innovation go hand-in-hand. Both are key to their strategy for future commercial success, economic competitiveness and continued economic growth."

Appelbaum made his remarks at a Monday event at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars co-sponsored by the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, the Asia Program, the China Environment Forum and the Program on Science, Technology, America and the Global Economy.

The "Nanotechnology in China: Ambitions and Realities" program was moderated by Evan Michelson, research associate at the Wilson Center's Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies.

"Worldwide, nanotechnology has emerged as a critical area for science and technology competition — much like the race to be the first country to put a man on the moon," Michelson said. "China and the U.S. are both big players in the nanotech race. Each faces a number of significant competitive challenges and collaborative opportunities, including the need for internationally-coordinated risk research strategies and effective oversight mechanisms."

He added, "It would be unfortunate if government agencies in both countries squandered this unique opportunity to help direct nanotechnology at a relatively early stage along a responsible path. Both nations need to work together to help engender public confidence in the private and public sectors' ability to handle possible nanotechnology risks and to increase the capacity of public institutions to deal with the long-term implications posed by this cutting-edge innovation."

Panelist Denis Fred Simon, an expert on Chinese science and technology policy and vice president of academic affairs at the State University of New York (Albany), situated China's nanotechnology research and investment capacity within the context of the country's long-term science and technology strategy.

"China recently released plans to radically increase its research and development capabilities over the next 15 years," Simon said. "It will be a grand experiment to see if the country can become a global innovation center. Central to these prospects are a number of key frontier technologies — including nanotechnology — aimed at ensuring the country's long-term competitiveness as it faces various funding, management and organizational obstacles."

The latest Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast is that China will have spent more on R&D than Japan in 2006, making it the world's second-highest investor in R&D after the U.S.

Michelson said that China's current nanotechnology research, education and manufacturing investments "are only the tip of the iceberg." He said that over the coming years, "there is the real potential for China to rapidly advance in making new nanotech scientific discoveries that lead to commercializing new, innovative nano-based products that are produced by its burgeoning, highly skilled and relatively cheap workforce."

The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies is an initiative launched by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Pew Charitable Trusts in 2005.

China okays HCV diagnostic kit

Worldwide Biotech & Pharmaceutical (WWBP; Xtan, China) said it has obtained Chinese FDA regulation approval for its Diagnostic Kit to Hepatitis C Antibody (ELISA), which it said is the only HCV diagnostic kit on the market developed from intact HCV virus.

The product also was awarded "Outstanding Project Derived from Chinese Patent" by the Chinese state government.

Yangling Daiying Biotech & Pharmaceutical Group Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of WWBP, obtained regulatory approval from the State Food and Drug Administration for the diagnostic kit, which is the first product from the company's HCV research pipeline to be released on the market.

The antigen for producing the kit is purified directly from intact HCV virus particles instead of using recombinant HCV proteins or synthesized polypeptides, as with other HCV diagnostics currently on the market. The company said the antigens from intact HCV virus have better epitopes, which could be more specifically recognized by the HCV antibody.

It said this new generation of ELISA diagnostic kits for HCV antibody detection "dramatically improves the accuracy of the HCV diagnostics and significantly advances the diagnostic window of HCV infection."

WWBP said that by releasing this new generation of HCV diagnostic product into the market, it will "compete vigorously in the $500 million hepatitis clinical diagnostics market."

The production line for the diagnostic kit meets Good Manufacturing Practice guidelines certified by the SFDA. Large-scale production and sale of the HCV diagnostic product has already begun.

A$2.8M federal grant for Ventracor

Ventracor (Sydney, Australia) said it has been awarded an A$2.8 million Commercial Ready Grant from the Australian federal government to fund further development of its VentrAssist left ventricular assist device (LVAD).

Australian Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said the VentrAssist product was a worthy recipient of the Commercial Ready Grant, a program that rewards innovation by providing funding to businesses to commercialize their products. "This funding will facilitate adoption of new high-value-added manufacturing technologies in Australia to be used domestically and for export."

Ventracor CEO Peter Crosby said, "Continuous and rapid innovation helps grow market share in the medical device industry and this generous funding will help us maintain our culture of innovation."