With a long weekend coming up (Monday is Columbus Day here in the US), here are some of the week’s most interesting biotech tidbits from around the globe. Read! Enjoy! Comment!

• An extremely useful article on BIO’s site explains how US states, now locked in competition with countries in Europe and Asia (as well as each other) can develop their biotech industries through workforce training and development. It lists various state initiatives, legislation and imperatives to build a flourishing biotech sector that could conceivably be applied anywhere in the world.
• In the Times of India, noted agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan opposes the proposed Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (Brai) billbrai-m-s-swaminathan-crops as being against the spirit of Gandhi and decentralized governance. The Brai will approve the research and commercial release of genetically modified crops.
• Finally, this week Toyota showed off some off its green technologies at its Biotechnology and Afforestation Laboratory, including a yeast that increases the production yield of cellulosic ethanol; new technologies for the greening of parking lots and walls; and a “cool spot creation technology” for simulating the effects of greening.

Michael Francisco

It’s time for our weekly roundup of biotech news around the world.

• • The New York Times delves into the thorny issue of India and China’s rise in biotech drug manufacturing, which threatens to lower the price of blockbuster drugs such as Herceptin, Avastin and Enbrel. As patients in developing and middle-income countries cheer, Western drug companies and diplomats are crying foul.
• • UK biotechs are choosing to run clinical trials in “half the time and one tenth of the cost” in Russia, according to This is Money. Backers include the Kremlin, which is eager to establish Russia as a leading centre for pharma R&D.
• • Turkey’s continuing growth is creating opportunities in the biotech and energy sectors, says the head of one of the country’s leading business conglomerates. (via Citywire)

Michael Francisco

This week’s Filter finds Merck jumping (late) into the VC and Twitterspheres and a round-up of agbiotech news from the Southern hemisphere. As always, we welcome your comments and questions.

• • The second largest US drug company has announced the formation of the $250 million Merck Venture Research Fund, which will partner with venture firms to invest in biotech start-ups around the world. They’ll also impart advice to portfolio companies as well as serve as a potential partner once their programs mature sufficiently. Have a pitch? Hit them up on Twitter: @Merck.
• • At last week’s Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC) in Johannesburg, National Research Council Canada executive director Jerome Konecsni reiterated the importance of agbiotech to produce healthy food and create employment.
• • As if in response, this week Brazil approved the first fully locally developed GMO: transgenic beans resistant to golden mosaic virus, which can destroy up to 85% of the bean crop. Brazil is the world’s largest producer and consumer of beans.

Michael Francisco

Yes, just in time for the weekend, the Filter combs the ’net for news of bioentrepreneurship around the world. Feel free to comment or ask a question below.

• • The China Daily introduces us to Duan Peng, a research professor in the US who’s setting up a biotech venture in his hometown of Nantong, “backed by a slew of industry-friendly policies geared to attract investment.”
• • Singapore, one of Asia’s biotech hubs, recently elected its seventh president. In the American Spectator, Hal Colebatch ruminates on the city state’s evolution “from one-party authoritarianism to a genuine multi-party state, and continuing to give its people a good standard of living while doing so.”
• • Finally, Zachary Russ comments on the need to use appropriate and sustainable technologies to help populations, whether in Manila or Washington, DC. A change of mindset is needed to disabuse ourselves of the notion that “anything less than the best is grounds for disapproval or malpractice.” (via GEN)

Michael Francisco

Here’s what you may have missed this week around the world in biotech:

• • Scientists at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in New Delhi show progress in one day diagnosing tuberculosis using a fast, inexpensive urine test. Currently, identifying TB bacteria from blood or sputum tests can take days or weeks.
• • A new report taps China, India and Brazil to be the highest growing regions among developing countries for the pharmaceutical industry, with an aging population, growth of chronic diseases, expanding healthcare insurance coverage, urbanization and increasing investment in rural healthcare services as the major growth drivers.

Michael Francisco

In the news this week: a start-up success story in India and acknowledging a need to do better in Kenya. Comments and questions are, of course, appreciated.

• * India’s Economic Times introduces us to Shama Bhat, a University of Pennsylvania professor turned successful biotech entrepreneur. His start-up, Bhat Bio-tech India, builds diagnostic products for various tests, from pregnancy detection to HIV to potentially fatal epidemics such as chikungunya and swine flu.
• * In Coastweek, Kenyan scientists admit that the general population’s general dislike for GMOs is in part their fault, but they’ve recently made strides in their ability to communicate the implications of the technologies they’re developing in agriculture research laboratories26.htm.
• * Yissum Research Development Company, the tech transfer arm of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, this week announced the discovery of novel biomarkers for predicting survival of patients with glioblastoma, the most common and deadliest of brain cancers, as well as a novel method for treating the disease. The research was published in the July issue of Cancer Research. Yissum is currently exploring potential partners for further development.

Michael Francisco

A hot week in biotech (literally, if you live in the Eastern half of the US) ends, as always, with the Filter. Here’s a little weekend catch-up reading.

• * The Irish Examiner reports a boost for the country’s economy with the announcement that international pharma company Sangart will base its new European headquarters Carrigtwohill, County Cork. This follows BioMarin Pharmaceutical’s recent purchase of Pfizer’s facility in nearby Shanbally.
• * Taiwan’s biotech industry output is set to accelerate after the government approved plans to invest in the Taiwan Medtech Fund (TMF) last month, according to the Taipei Times. “The government-run ‘Taiwan Biotech Take-off Diamond Action Plan’ made a breakthrough this year, which may drive the industry toward a more systematic platform for developing related technologies,” said Taiwan’s vice president Vincent Siew.

Michael Francisco

The Filter returns after a short hiatus wherein your author found himself marveling at the biodiversity of the Puerto Rican rainforest one week, and networking at the Puerto Rico Bio Alliance booth at BIO 2011 the next. Without further ado, here’s your weekend catch-up reading.

• • Bloomberg Businessweek profiles two bioentrepreneurs’ efforts to turn startup BeiGene into the Genentech of China.
• • Speaking at the aforementioned BIO 2011 convention last week in Washington, industry maven Steve Burrill talked up the biotech efforts of developing countries. In addition to the BRICs, now we can add the CIVET countries (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt and Turkey) as “sources of increased international competition for innovation, markets, and capital,” says the Patent Docs blawg.
• • And speaking of Colombia, the home of 10% of the world’s biodiversity hopes to commercialize its resources by financing biotech research, according to SciDevNet.

Please add your thoughts in the comments.

Michael Francisco

Another week in the books, another Filter. Here’s some Father’s Day weekend catch-up reading for those of a bioentrepreneurial bent.

Beijing has identified biotech as one of the strategic industries in which to nurture innovators in order to reduce China’s reliance on foreign technology and create higher-paying jobs, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. But some of its tactics have irritated its trading partners.

In an interview with EurActiv, South Africa’s minister of science and technology Naledi Pandor touches on partnering with the BRIC countries and developing South African biotechnology in conjunction with indigenous knowledge, which is at present not well understood.

Microventures CEO Bill Clark, writing at Mashable, asks how much money should a start-up raise? For biotechs, the answer is “more than others.”

Please add your thoughts in the comments.

Michael Francisco