At the 5th Canton Nucleic Acids Forum (CNAF) in Guangzhou, China, Guangzhou RiboBio Co., Ltd. (“RiboBio”) and GE Healthcare Life Sciences (“GE”) held a strategic partnership signing ceremony. The strategic partnership agreement is aimed at establishing a deep alliance to jointly build Asia’s largest oligonucleotide drug development and manufacturing facility in China. The goal of this partnership is to provide a total solution for oligonucleotide drug companies worldwide.
Dr. Biliang (“Bill”) Zhang, President of RiboBio, and Mrs. Shufang (“Sofia”) Lim, the Chief Commercial Director of GE Healthcare Life Science China, executed this strategic partnership agreement. The signing was witnessed by three Nobel Laureates including: Dr. Tomas Lindahl from Francis Crick Institute, the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Dr. Craig C. Mello from University of Massachusetts Medical School, the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and Dr. Richard J. Roberts from New England Biolabs, the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The signing was also witness by additional members from both companies as well as the four hundred conference attendees.
According to the terms of the agreement GE Healthcare will provide the advanced instrumentation, including its new IN Cell Analyzer 6500HS® and Äkta OligoProcess (1800 mmole) systems while RiboBio will provide new, state-of-the-art facilities, highly trained scientific staff, and support infrastructure with the goal to build Asia’s leading oligonucleotide drug contract research organization (CRO) and Asia’s largest contract oligonucleotide manufacturing operation (CMO).
Oligonucleotide-based drugs are being developed world-wide to target disease-specific genes. The drugs have provided new paths for the treatment of life-threatening diseases including cancers, infectious diseases, and genetic diseases.
The “Canton Nucleic Acids Forum” (CNAF) which began in 2013, is widely recognized as Asia’s premier forum for advancing nucleic acids research and drug development in Asia. The CNAF has attracted high-profile speakers, including Nobel Prize winners, to highlight recent advances in nucleic-acid based medicine, research and development and industry trends. The topics covered during the 5th CNAF included 1) Latest advances in non-coding RNA research, 2) Nucleic acid-based drug clinical trials including Alnylam’s positive Phase III results, 3) Nucleic acid-based diagnostics and biomarkers and 4) Advances in Nucleic acids-based therapeutics. This year the speakers included three Nobel Laureates as well as 16 world-renown experts and scholars. The conference was attended by over 400 scientists and industry professionals.
