Hong Kong DNA Chips, an SAR start-up, plans to build up a database specializing on diseases that particularly affect Chinese people, like liver and nasal cancer. Marrying the technology with traditional herbal medicines is one strength that Asia could build on. Agri-biotechnology is another. There's more quality research in rice here, for example, than in other parts of the world, notes SGS's Fung. China possibly leads this field, he adds, because it is driven by internal needs.
Many people still rely on agriculture.
Diagnostics may be India's best bet. Tests for dengue, tuberculosis, malaria, rabies, leukemia, even snakebites, are in the pipeline, and clinicians may be using them before long. SS Pharm's technical and managerial staff, for example, are mostly in their late thirties, often with multiple degrees and extensive experience abroad. Of course, even the most nimble outfits need the right environment to blossom. Equally so, intellectual property rights.