Edinburgh-based entrepreneur Alan Muir, a longstanding pioneer of business links between Scottish biotech companies and Chinese investors, has been appointed to a new UK/China trade role at the British Embassy in Beijing with a remit to help UK firms exploit China's exploding market for hospital-based drugs.
A former Strathclyde University pharmacologist and a fluent mandarin-speaker Muir's appointment as an assistant director of life sciences at the British Embassy comes after 17 years of travels to China for his Edinburgh-based company Seven Hills Investments, visits which have seen him establish strong links with Chinese investors and regional politicians, many of whom he has escorted to Scotland.
China's spending on healthcare is projected to grow at an average rate of 11.8 per cent a year between 2014 and 2018, reaching £603bn by 2018, as the nation's proportion of elderly people continues to increase. The market for prescription drugs alone will reach £100bn by end of 2015, growing to £17bn by 2020, with an increasing proportion of generic drugs while still maintaining a high level of patented drugs.
While the Chinese pharmaceutical market presents many hurdles to new foreign entrants, major UK life sciences firms have already established a foothold. AstraZeneca has invested more than $100m in a cancer therapy innovation centre.
In his new role Muir, will be supported by a strong UK supply base including Edinburgh-based Colpitts World Travel, which facilitates travel and visa arrangements for UK life science business-people visiting China to explore trade links and promote their intellectual property.
Muir said: "China is experiencing what is called the '6 to 1' scenario where every young Chinese person, who is typically an only child, will soon be responsible for a set of two parents and possibly two sets of grandparents. This trend will make the need for innovative health care solutions essential in the world's most populated nation."
Ian Scholes, director of European operations for Colpitts World Travel said: "Alan's appointment to the British Embassy comes off his expertise of both the life sciences sector and the Chinese marketplace.
"We look forward to helping increasing the number of UK firms looking to access the Chinese market. This remains a very complex area where we will aim to use our expertise to help ensure companies here can get the appropriate access they need to build successful links in China."
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