BEIJING, April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (“Sinovac” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: SVA), a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced that on April 26, 2018, it entered into Amendment No. 2 to the Amalgamation Agreement (the “Amendment”) to further amend the Amalgamation Agreement, dated as of June 26, 2017 (as amended by Amendment No. 1 to the Amalgamation Agreement, dated as of March 26, 2018, the “Amalgamation Agreement”), among the Company, Sinovac (Cayman) Limited (“Parent”) and Sinovac Amalgamation Sub Limited (“Amalgamation Sub”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Parent.
Under the terms of the Amalgamation Agreement, the Amalgamation Agreement may be terminated by the Company or Parent if the amalgamation of Amalgamation Sub with and into the Company (the “Amalgamation”) has not occurred on or before April 26, 2018 (the “Termination Date”). The Amendment extends the Termination Date to May 26, 2018.
About Sinovac
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is a China-based biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of vaccines that protect against human infectious diseases. Sinovac’s product portfolio includes vaccines against enterovirus71, or EV71, hepatitis A and B, seasonal influenza, H5N1 pandemic influenza (avian flu), H1N1 influenza (swine flu), and mumps. The EV71 vaccine, an innovative vaccine developed by Sinovac against hand foot and mouth disease caused by EV71, was commercialized in China in 2016. In 2009, Sinovac was the first company worldwide to receive approval for its H1N1 influenza vaccine, which it has supplied to the Chinese Government’s vaccination campaign and stockpiling program. The Company is also the only supplier of the H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine to the government stockpiling program. The Company is developing a number of new products including a Sabin-strain inactivated polio vaccine, pneumococcal polysaccharides vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and varicella vaccine. Sinovac primarily sells its vaccines in China, while also exploring growth opportunities in international markets. The Company has exported select vaccines to over 10 countries in Asia and South America. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.sinovac.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement may include certain statements that are not descriptions of historical facts, but are forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, uncertainties as to how the Company’s shareholders will vote at the meeting of shareholders, the possibility that competing offers will be made, the possibility that various closing conditions to the Amalgamation may not be satisfied or waived and other risks and uncertainties discussed in Sinovac’s filings with the SEC, as well as the Schedule 13E-3 transaction statement (and amendments thereto) and the proxy statement to be filed by the Company in connection with the proposed Amalgamation. Sinovac does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.
Contacts
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Helen Yang Tel: +86-10-8279-9871 Fax: +86-10-6296-6910 ir@sinovac.com
HONG KONG, April 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — On April 27, 2018, LKK Health Products Group (LKKHPG or the Group) was awarded as one of the Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2018 (Hong Kong Edition) by HR Asia Magazine, one of the most authoritative publications for senior HR professionals in Asia. It has won this honor for three consecutive years since 2016.
LKK Health Products Group Named One of the Best Employers to Work for in Asia for Three Consecutive Years
Best Companies to Work for in Asia™ is one of the most authoritative business management awards in Asia. LKKHPG was one of the 33 winners this year out of 168 nominees from a dozen industries across Hong Kong. Other awardees include Swarovski, A.S. Watson Group, Hang Lung Properties, Pfizer, and KPMG.
“While the program is Asia-centric, the survey’s parameters are benchmarked against the best in the world,” said Mr. William Ng, group publisher and editor-in-chief of Business Media International, the publisher of HR Asia.
The Awards was judged by an independent panel of industry experts, academics, journalists and government representatives based on the HR Asia Employee Input Survey™ (EIS) Report and the HR Asia Workplace and Employee Engagement Survey™ (WEES). The judges examined companies’ HR practices, employee engagement, job satisfaction and workplace environment. The evaluation report shows that LKKHPG acquired high scores in all dimensions.
The Group said: “We are very grateful for winning this award. It is good recognition of our efforts and commitment to providing employees with excellent working conditions and development opportunities. ‘Si Li Ji Ren’ is LKKHPG’s core values, meaning we should consider collective benefits before acting. Therefore, we always value our staff as one of the most important assets. We are glad to have a group of great employees, and we will continue to fulfill our responsibilities and help them develop along with the company.”
LKKHPG’s care for and devotion to employees continue to earn widespread social recognition. In 2018, it washonored as a Caring Company again by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, and named a Happy Company again by the Promoting Happiness Index Foundation and Hong Kong Productivity Council.
LKK Health Products Group, a Hong Kong-based corporation, was established by the Lee Kum Kee Family in 1992. The Group operates diversified businesses in Chinese herbal health products, Chinese herbs plantation and trading, property investment, and venture capital for startups. The group employs approximately 5,000 people.
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BEIJING, April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (NASDAQ: SVA) (“Sinovac” or the “Company”), a leading provider of biopharmaceutical products in China, today announced that it will delay the filing of its annual report on Form 20-F for the year 2017 (the “2017 Annual Report”). The delay is the result of actions taken by Aihua Pan, the Chairman of the Board of the Company’s 73.09% controlled China subsidiary, Sinovac Biotech Co., Ltd. (“Sinovac Beijing”). Mr. Pan was appointed Chairman of the Board by Sinobioway Biomedicine Co., Ltd. (“Sinobioway”), the minority shareholder of Sinovac Beijing.
As previously announced, on April 17, 2018, Aihua Pan and dozens of unnamed individuals forcibly entered Sinovac Beijing’s corporate offices and limited the physical movement of the employees in Sinovac Beijing’s general manager’s office and finance department. This was in an attempt to take control of Sinovac Beijing’s official seal, legal documents, accounting seal, financial documents and financial information systems. One of our buildings where the finance department is located is occupied and employees of Sinovac Beijing are not permitted to enter.
The occupation of the finance department of Sinovac Beijing has caused disruption to the Company’s 2017 annual audit, which will delay the filing of the Company’s 2017 Annual Report. The Company will file the Notification of Late Filing on Form 12b-25 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to provide the formal notification of the delay. The Company is working diligently with its auditor to file the 2017 Annual Report as soon as practicable.
About Sinovac
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. is a China-based biopharmaceutical Company that focuses on the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of vaccines that protect against human infectious diseases. Sinovac’s product portfolio includes vaccines against enterovirus71, or EV71, hepatitis A and B, seasonal influenza, H5N1 pandemic influenza (avian flu), H1N1 influenza (swine flu), and mumps. Healive, the hepatitis A vaccine manufactured by the Company has passed the assessment under WHO Prequalification procedures in 2017. The EV71 vaccine, an innovative vaccine developed by Sinovac against hand foot and mouth disease caused by EV71, was commercialized in China in 2016. In 2009, Sinovac was the first company worldwide to receive approval for its H1N1 influenza vaccine, which it has supplied to the Chinese Government’s vaccination campaign and stockpiling program. The Company is also the only supplier of the H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine to the government stockpiling program. The Company is developing a number of new products including a Sabin-strain inactivated polio vaccine, pneumococcal polysaccharides vaccine, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and varicella vaccine. Sinovac primarily sells its vaccines in China, while also exploring growth opportunities in international markets. The Company has exported select vaccines to over 10 countries in Asia and South America. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.sinovac.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement may include certain statements that are not descriptions of historical facts, but are forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any such statements.
Contacts:
Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Helen Yang Tel: +86-10-8279-9871 Fax: +86-10-6296-6910 ir@sinovac.com
BEIJING, April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — On the morning of April 21, the 2018 Vascular Innovation Symposium was held in Beijing. The symposium focused onconceptualand technological innovation, presented the innovative applications of next-generation information technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence in the medical field, and discussed the application of big data and artificial intelligence onvascular surgery.
Xie Shaofeng, General Director of the Department of Information and Software Services of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China; Prof. Yu Qilin, Department of Surgical Medicine, People’s Liberation Army General Hospital; Prof. Wang Shenming, Chief Expert of the Department of Vascular Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University; Jiang Feng, Executive Vice President of the China Association for the Medical Device Industry; Wang Faqiang, President of Chinese Research Hospital Association; Shi Xinli, Head of Center for Medical Device Evaluation; Prof. Chen Zhong, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Beijing Anzhen Hospital; Prof. Liu Changwei, Department of Vascular Surgery, Peking Union Medical College Hospital; Prof. Guo Wei, Department of Vascular Surgery, People’s Liberation Army General Hospital; Prof. Liao Hongen, Deputy Dean of the School of Biomedical Sciences at Tsinghua University; Wu Wenxin, General Manager of the Intel Healthcare Industry Solution Group; Chai Xiangfei, CEO of Huiyihuiying; and Guona, COO of Huiyihuiying were among those that attended the symposium.
At the symposium, Huiyihuiying and the Department of Vascular Surgery of the PLA General Hospital (the 301 Hospital) jointly announced the AORTIST 2.0 artificial intelligence research cloud platform. According to Guo Wei, director of the Department of Vascular Surgery at 301 Hospital, it is the first time that an artificial intelligence automatic segmentation method for type B aortic dissection has been developed anywhere in the world.
Big Data and AI could let China pull ahead
Xie Shaofeng, Director General of the Department of Information and Software Servicesof the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the PRC, addressedthe meeting, saying: “To promote a smart future for the industry,medicine and health care need to be people-centric; positioning people’s yearning for a better life as the target while strengthening data, opening up data security and reinforcing cooperation between other aspects.
“The first step is to promoteopenness and the sharing of medical health data for comprehensive utilization. In response to the development trendspresent in new technologies and new formats, we will build a unified, comprehensive and interconnected medical and health platform to achieve data and resource co-construction and sharing, eliminatingdata barriersand facilitatingdata–sharing channels between industries.
“The second is cooperation between health information technology companies and medical departments, strengthening the coordination ability between supply side and demand side, to promote big data and AI technology and make them demand–oriented, going deep into the application of medical technologyand promoting the transformation of technological achievements and industrial upgrade.
“The third is to effectively ensure the safety of medical and health data, strengthen the management of identitiesin medical and health data, and construct a safety system,ensuring the safety of medical and health data through standard implementation of safety precautions.
The deep integration of big data and artificial intelligence with the health care field will optimize resource allocation, integrate social forces, and maximize medical and health benefits. It has great significance for propelling technological advancement, and building abetter society for the welfare of the people.
Prof. Liao Hongen, Deputy Dean of the School of Biomedical Sciences at Tsinghua University, said that “Withartificial intelligence becoming part of the national strategy, algorithms, computing power, and big data have developed rapidly. In recent years, artificial intelligence has made breakthroughs in disease monitoring, disease early warning, medication monitoring, personalized diagnosis, precise treatment, smart pension and so on. Especially in the field of microinvasive treatment, artificial intelligence has given medical research and clinicsa powerful new tool.”When he shared on the topic of ‘Artificial Intelligence in Medical Imaging and Microinvasive Diagnosis and Treatment’, Prof. Liao stated that he thinks that with regard to AI, people should pay more attention to the efficiency of machines and the improvement of people’s effectiveness and cognition. That is not to say that people should letAI completely replacedoctors,but that the best model is a complementary one. These kind of diagnoses require a high degree of long-term coordination and cooperation between evensome fields merely related to medicine in order to ultimatelyachieve the goal of accurate personalized medicine.
As a leading medical imaging and artificial intelligence company, Huiyihuiying provides a complete set of medical image data analysis and mining toolsand a medical imaging intelligent auxiliary diagnosis service. It has already been put into use in more than 700 hospitals and its intelligent auxiliary diagnosis system based on deep learning has already been applied inhundreds of hospitals.
The big data intelligent analysis cloud platform based on radiomics, machine learning, big data and other technologies has already been settled in more than 300 hospitals.
In the 2018 Vascular Innovation Symposium, Huiyihuiying and the Department of Vascular Surgery of the PLA General Hospital (the 301 Hospital) announced an artificial intelligence research cloud platform named AORTIST 2.0.
The full name of the AORTIST is “Artificial intelligence Online Research platform Targeting Individualized aortic Stent-grafting Therapy.” According to reports, after a year of cooperation, the two parties have made breakthrough progress in precision measurement, prognosis prediction and follow-up management on surgery oftype B aortic dissections, and Guo Wei, director of vascular surgery at 301 Hospital, claimed this is the first time in the world that an artificial intelligence automatic segmentation method for type B aortic dissection has been developed. For Huiyihuiying, this is also a breakthrough, because its AI application for the first time ‘came out’ from the imaging department and began seeing application in clinical departments, also participating inclinical treatment decision-making after making breakthroughsin the diagnosis process, from efficiency improvementtoprecise treatment.
AORTIST2.0 gives intelligence to the diagnosis and treatment of aortic disease
Aortic dissection is the most dangerous and complex of the aortic diseases. With the evolution of medical equipment and surgical instruments, human beings have been able to treat aortic diseases with endovascular repair, achieving a major shift from massively traumatic aortic surgeryto microinvasive methods. The main problem of the microinvasive treatment of aortic diseases has also begun to change from how to complete the surgery more safely to how to treat the disease more effectively. Questions such as ‘how to accurately measure aortic anatomic parameters to reduce the incidence of surgical complications‘ and‘how to achieve prognosis of patients with aortic disease to develop a personalized treatment plan and follow-up plan‘ have become larger concerns forvascular surgeons.
According to the data, the aorta is the main blood vessel of the body. If there is tearing of the intimal layer that cannot be treated promptly, then when it ruptures, it has a very high fatality rate. The dissection is located only in the area below the distal opening of the left subclavian artery, and the B-type aorta is not involved in the proximal aortic artery. B-type aortic dissection is a very rare but serious disease, where 65% to 70% die of cardiac tamponade, arrhythmia and so on, so it’s absolutely necessary to get early diagnosis and treatment.
According to Chai Xiangfei, Founder and CEO of Huiyihuiying,after the 301 Hospital and Huiyingying jointly designed the project, the hospital provided image data and patient clinical data, while Huiyihuiying provided the artificial intelligence algorithm, radiology algorithm, and follow-up engineered algorithm.Once the platform was fully trained and fleshed out, a limited verification was performedto debugfor accuracy, before expanding the application to its full scope.
AORTIST resolves the three core issues of accurate measurement, prognostic prediction, and remote follow-up in previous B-type aortic dissection surgery. Taking precision measurement as an example, B-type aortic dissection surgery requires accurate measurements of the diameter of the proximal & distal landing zone, the location of the breach, and some important distance information. Manual measurement based on the CTA axial position is prone to errors, especially when it comes to the measurementof the diameter of the aortic arch, and it is also difficult to obtain information such as length and distance using the manual measurement method. In this case, vascular surgeons usually need to rely on trained professionals to use commercial software to obtain accurate anatomical parameters, but the accuracy and timeliness of information acquisition cannot be guaranteed.
The AORTIST Cloud Platform achieves breakthroughs in the three-dimensional reconstruction of patients’ aorta, segmentation, centerline extraction, breach analysis, and accurate measurement of diameter and length. According to reports, using the AORTIST cloud platform, the intersection-over-union ratio of arterial diameter measurement reached 98%, the arterial diameter error margin was reduced to within 1.5mm, and the accuracy was improved by more than 50% compared with the manual measurement method. The accurate measurement of the diameter, length, and distance between branching arteries of the patient’s landing zone could be completed within 10 minutes, greatly improving efficiency and accuracy, which is extremely helpful for doctors to develop personalized surgeries.
Prof. Guo Wei, Director of Department of Vascular Surgery at the 301 Hospital, said that “Radiomics is closely linked with big data and artificial intelligence.” Director Guo believes that the true strength of big data is not simply a large amount of data, butis actually big data paired with cloud-based data. The most important part of medical data is imaging data. Imaging data is often a manifestation of the objective response of the disease. It is more truthful than a patient’s statement and is more accurate than the medical record. Aortic disease is very suitable for big data, artificial intelligence and radiomics. There are many companies that make images today, but companies that extend it into automated segments are still uncommon. The most important part of a convolutional neural–based network is automatic measurement. AORTIST 2.0 can assist in accurate measurement. Formerly mostpatients were manually measured before surgery. The difficulty was to find the plane which is perpendicular to the axis of the aorta, and then select the correct bracket. In addition, AORTIST 2.0 also provides a pre-plan recommendation, which is based on the analysis results of large amounts of data and will improve long-term outcomes.
Report from Japanese market in AI and radiomics
The best proof of the work related to the development of Radiomics and AI platforms has been confirmed during the 77th Annual Meeting of the Japan Radiological Society. During that meeting professor Shuji Yamamoto emphasized the peculiarity of Chinese development of Artificial Intelligence and the currentglobal status quo in the Radiology field. Professor Shuji Yamamoto graduated from School of Medicine in Medical Physics from Osaka University, he is Project Associate Professor in Tokyo Institute of Technology (ACLS) and visiting researcher in the National Cancer Center in Japan, working onresearch into Cancer prevention and screening,as well as a member of the International Cancer Imaging Society (United Kingdom).
Japanese radiologists have been very interested in opportunities presented by the implementation of Radiomics in routine work and calculation of prediction and forecasting of Cancer. Even though the coverage of PACS systems in Japan exceeds 95%, the level of AI integration is still lacking – though there is great demand. This could be a great opportunity to develop the quality of patients’ data for companies like HY. So the market response for HY AI products was outstanding and the Japanese market,which boasts the highest adoption rates of MRI and CT scanners in the world, is regarded as the most interestingpotential market for all companies working in Medical Imaging AI field.
The future ofAI and radiomics in vascular surgery
Looking back over the history of the development of artificial intelligence, the earliest artificial intelligence was based on expert systems, and had turned into a statistical model by the end of the 1990s. AI gradually came into the limelight starting from 2012, when data-driven artificial intelligence emerged. In 2016, because of the spotlight shined on AlphaGo, artificial intelligence technology began appearing in a wide variety of fields and industries. Therefore, this came to be known as the “First year of AI”
Chai Xiangfei believes that images and pathology are the most mature technologies and the most widely used ones in the application of AI technology in medical field. In addition to intelligent analysis, AI medical imaging can provide new strategies for diagnosis and treatment. It can also realize intelligent segmentation of medical images to achieve 3D modeling and multimodal image registration. Providing doctors with multidimensional information andradiation-free image tracking techniqueshelps to reduce the intraoperative radiation damage for doctors.
Although medical images have achieved breakthroughs when it comes to type B aorta, there are still many challenges left to be solved. Chai Xiangfei said “The numbers of incidences of aortic disease in the country is probably 100,000. When we subdivide A and B aortic aneurysms, there are only thousands of cases for each disease, so we can not obtain data from millions of cases as we may wish. Usually, we can only perform calculations in hundreds or thousands of data sets. Handling artificial intelligence calculations in this process for such a small amount of data is the areawhereAI-enhanced medical imaging most urgentlyneeds improvement.”
From the view of the medical industry, the specificity of this industry determines that many new technologies and new things cannot be “tried and tested” because it there are human lives on the line. At the same time, especially in the subdivision of medical imaging, entrepreneurs with cross-disciplinary abilities will have greater competitiveness. Entrepreneurs not only need medical clinical knowledge, but also computer knowledge and data processing knowledge, as well as needing to understand the market, sales, and methods of management.
As Chai Xiangfei pointed out at the end of the symposium, there is a real lack of such crossover talents in the medical imaging industry, which is one of the factors that restricts itsdevelopment. Chaiadded “No matter how products or research might develop, or how commercialized the industry might become, in fact, it is very important to conduct multi-party collaboration, especially in the cultivation of interdisciplinary talents. During the process, no matter whether business, technology, or medical knowledge, they are all indispensable parts”.
SHANGHAI, April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — STA Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of WuXi AppTec (WuXi STA), announces that it has signed an investment agreement with the government of Shanghai Jinshan District to build a new R&D center. The new facility will further strengthen WuXi STA’s global leading pharmaceutical development and manufacturing platform, enabling drug developers to accelerate their projects from preclinical to commercial stage.
Over the years, WuXi STA has established an industry leading process development platform with over 1,000 scientists and five sites located in China and the United States. WuXi STA’s Jinshan site currently focuses on manufacturing innovative Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and advanced intermediates from kilo to metric ton scale. The site has been approved by multiple international regulatory agencies including US FDA.
The new R&D center is located next to the existing Jinshan drug substance manufacturing site. It will add more than 30,000 square meters of laboratory space and 500 scientists. Upon completion, the new Jinshan campus will be able to offer integrated one-site solution for partners to push forward innovative APIs and advanced intermediates through preclinical and clinical development to global commercial launch. The new campus will also offer the access to many industry-leading technology platforms such as flow chemistry, biocatalysis, and high potency, from laboratory to commercial scale.
Shanghai Jinshan District has enjoyed sustained economic growth in recent years via its strategic focus on “smart manufacturing” and has attracted many biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies including WuXi STA. “This new R&D center in Caojing Town, Jinshan is a result of the long term ‘win-win’ collaboration between Jinshan government and WuXi STA. The project will further strengthen the life science industry ecosystem in Jinshan District,” said Mr. Quanquan Zhang, Vice Governor of Jinshan.
“The new R&D center is a reflection of our commitment to better serving our customers worldwide and supporting the growth of local economy as well as the biopharmaceutical ecosystem in Jinshan,” said Dr. Minzhang Chen, CEO of WuXi STA. “As we continuously strengthen the capability and capacity of our platform, we will enable more global partners to shorten the time and lower the cost of new drug development, and improve lives of people around the world.”
The signing ceremony held in Jinshan was attended by Mr. Jian Liu (member of Standing Committee, Vice Governor of Jinshan), Mr. Quanquan Zhang (member of Standing Committee, Vice Governor of Jinshan), Mr. Huapin Luo (Secretary of Caojing Town Committee of the CPC), Ms. Liying Qian(Vice Secretary of Caojing Town Committee of the CPC, Mayor of Caojing Town), Dr. Minzhang Chen (Chief Executive Officer of WuXi STA), Mr. Feng Zhang(Vice President of WuXi STA) as well as other local government officials and STA management team members.
About WuXi STA
STA Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of WuXi AppTec (WuXi STA), is a leading pharmaceutical development and manufacturing capability and technology platform company serving the life science industry, with operations in China and the United States. As a premier Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO), WuXi STA offers our worldwide partners efficient, flexible and high-quality solutions for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and finished dosage forms. For more information, please visit http://www.STApharma.com
About WuXi AppTec
WuXi AppTec is a leading global pharmaceutical and medical device open-access capability and technology platform company with global operations. As an innovation-driven and customer-focused company, WuXi AppTec provides a broad and integrated portfolio of services to help our worldwide customers and partners shorten the discovery and development time and lower the cost of drug and medical device R&D through cost-effective and efficient solutions. With its industry-leading capabilities such as small molecule R&D and manufacturing, cell therapy and gene therapy R&D and manufacturing, and medical device testing, WuXi platform is enabling nearly 3,000 innovative collaborators from more than 30 countries to bring innovative healthcare products to patients, and to fulfill WuXi’s dream that “every drug can be made and every disease can be treated.” Please visit http://www.wuxiapptec.com
Most smokers would ask themselves, am I ready to quit today? It’s a hard question. Hardwired between the brain and the digits reaching out for a cigarette, is the visual of those unsightly pictures that government authorities have made cigarette companies print on the packs. This is what could happen to YOU! Yet, quitting is often too difficult.
Smoking programs do work, but for that to happen, there has to be a massive Mindset Shift. We take a look at an Irish campaign, that’s been so successful this year that it’s now adopted in New York.
CREDITS Advertiser: HSE “Quit” Title: “I Will Survive” Agency: BBDO Dublin Creative Director: Des Kavanagh Copywriter: Dillon Elliott Art Director: Clayton Homer Account Team: Dave McGloughlin, Vivienne Lawlor Production Company: 2AM London Film Director: Steve Cope Production Company Producer: Chris Cable Agency Producer: Andrew Counihan
-China’s oldest TCM brand to sponsor rising fashion star in unprecedented collaboration with tech giant Tencent
— Oldest TCM brand in China, with a history of nearly 500 years
— Guo Jiaxue, Chairman of the Board of GuangYuYuan: “Very few companies in the world boast a heritage as long as ours. For GuangYuYuan, the preservation of traditional culture and encouraging innovation are two of the pillars our company is built on.”
BEIJING, Sept. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — The oldest of the “Big 4” Traditional Chinese Medicine brands, GuangYuYuan, will be making its global debut at Paris Fashion Week on 1 October 2017.
Chinese designer Big-King sketches a GuangYuYuan inspired design for his Paris Fashion Week Debut
At an event organized by tech giant Tencent, during the finale of the biannual international “Big 4” fashion weeks, GuangYuYuan will sponsor an innovative runway show by up-and-coming Chinese designer Liu Qing, also known as Big-King, in what will be his first Paris runway show.
Guo Jiaxue, Chairman of the Board of GuangYuYuan Chinese Herbal Medicine Co., Ltd. explained the motivation behind this unique collaboration: “Very few companies in the world boast a heritage as long as ours. For GuangYuYuan, the preservation of traditional culture and encouraging innovation are two of the pillars our company is built on. We are excited to see how Big-King is able to incorporate distinctly Chinese elements into his designs, as well as some elements that reflect our own history of nearly 500 years.”
The GuangYuYuan-sponsored show received special permission to be held in the magnificent Musee Jacquemart-Andre, the first runway Paris Fashion Week show ever held in the museum. GuangYuYuan will also have highlights from its brand culture and design aesthetics on display during its Paris debut.
About GuangYuYuan
GuangYuYuan was founded in 1541. In 2003 it was acquired by a leading Chinese pharmaceutical conglomerate, Xi’an Dongsheng Group, and is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange under the name GuangYuYuan Chinese Herbal Medicine Co. Ltd., stock number 600771. In 2006, GuangYuYuan was honored by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, receiving its “Time-Honored Brand” appellation. Two of GuangYuYuan’s oldest products, GuilingJi and Dingkun Dan, have been declared to be part of China’s intangible cultural heritage and their formulas have been named national secrets.
-The Opening Ceremony of the Fourth World Nobel Prize Laureate Summit
GUIYANG, China, Sept. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — On September 14th, the three-day Fourth World Nobel Prize Laureate Summit 2017 was kicked off at the Guiyang International Eco-conference Center. Five Nobel Prize laureates, more than ten academicians from China and the United States, over 2,000 prestigious experts, as well as domestic and overseas pioneering enterprises and senior investors in the biomedical industry all gathered in Guiyang to discuss issues concerning the innovations in China’s medical science and technology with a focus on the theme – “Science: Fact and Fiction”.
The Opening Ceremony of the 4th WNPLS (PRNewsfoto/Nobel Prize Laureate Summit)
5 Nobel Prize laureates in Summit Dialogue: “Science: Fact and Fiction” (PRNewsfoto/Nobel Prize Laureate Summit)
With the strong support from Guizhou provincial government and Guiyang municipal government, the Summit was jointly held by China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CATCM), China High-tech Industrialization Association (CHIA), China Centre for International Science and Technology Exchange (CCISTE), China Pharmaceutical Industry Association (CPIA), and International Society of Scientific Communications for Nobel Prize Laureates (ISSCNL), in a bid to build a platform for in-depth dialogues among top medical experts from home and abroad in the era of “mass entrepreneurship and innovation”, foster innovative ways of thinking, and provide more solutions for cooperation and challenges in the medical science field.
The Summit is, without doubt, the highest-level meeting in the bio-science sector, which has brought together the world’s most eminent scientists, including five Nobel Prize recipients (Richard J. Roberts, Steven Chu, Barry J. Marshall, Robert C. Merton, and Aaron Ciechanover), more than ten academicians, and a hundred medical experts, to examine the facts about the globally neglected big issues concerning the climate change and genetically modified organisms. They would also harvest collective wisdom and support to brainstorm the wisest ideas, and conduct in-depth discussions and exchanges on such topics as integration of Chinese traditional medicine (TCM) and western medicine, precision medicine, and industrial upgrading driven by innovations. The epoch-making dialogues among these experts and scientists during the meeting have attracted dozens of leading media from home and abroad to cover the whole event, including CCTV, People’s Daily, Reuters, Phoenix TV and Xinhua news agency.
Congratulation from Guizhou province government (PRNewsfoto/Nobel Prize Laureate Summit)
The secretary of provincial party committee of Guizhou province Sun Zhigang and the acting governor of Guizhou province Chen Yiqin sent a congratulations, the vice director of National health and family planning commission issued a written address, raising the Summit’s stimulation of communication between traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine, urging the Summit to continue to contribute to creative transformation and innovative development.
The Summit set up four key forums and multiple project investment sessions: Chinese Medicine Industry Innovation Development Forum to encourage academic discussions and industrial development; International Precision Medicine Summit Forum; World Youth Innovation Forum to inspire new thinking; and International Bio-medicine Industry Forum to promote capital investment and practical operations. Besides, it introduced many more activities, such as innovation and entrepreneurship competitions, and exhibitions for innovative products and technologies.
Keynote speaker: 1997 Nobel prize laureate in physics Steven Chu (PRNewsfoto/Nobel Prize Laureate Summit)
As the highlight of this year’s summit, the world youth innovation forum brought today’s top Scientific leaders and tomorrow’sstars together. The “dream team”, consisting of 1997 Nobel prize laureate in physics Steven Chu, 1993 Nobel prize laureate in physiology or medicine Richard J. Roberts, 2005 Nobel prize laureate in physiology or medicine Barry J. Marshall, 1997 Nobel Prize laureate in economics Robert C. Merton, with young Chinese scientists and students, they had a deep and interesting exchange and discussion of the issues onglobal climate change, the truth of GMOs, etc. Young people cherished such a rare and valuable opportunity of contact with the Nobel laureates. The role model effects, technology celebrity guide effects and inspirational effects greatly aroused the enthusiasm for innovative and creative thinking, promoting positive values guide. On the forum, the excellent keynote speech of Chinese young scientists has also delivered the voice of Chinese youth to the world. We see the enthusiasm of China’s young people who are actively concerned about the issue of global development, and the goal of global sustainable development has attracted the attention of Chinese youth and even the world’s young people.
Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, director of Peking University Medicine Center Zhan Qimin in Precision Medicine Forum (PRNewsfoto/Nobel Prize Laureate Summit)
Recently, the necessity and significance of precision medicine has been attached with great importance to it by the healthcare industry and governments of different countries; and it has become one of the world’s hottest topics and has triggered the burgeoning growth of the healthcare market. Focusing on the development direction and strategy of precision medicine in China, the cross-field and interdisciplinary cooperation modes in precision medicine projects, and the future project implementation in different cities and provinces, the Precision Medicine Forum has summoned a number of renowned medical experts, scientists, policy-makers, and industrial leaders to study the field thoroughly from various dimensions, and has achieved remarkable results. Mr. Zhan Qimin, director of the PKU Health Science Center, said that precision is not only the ultimate goal of medical scientists, but the inexorable process of medicine development, during which the fundamental rule is innovations in scientific research. To this end, we should not just put emphasis on individual demands or simply regard it as part of genomics and big data. In fact, precision medicine is a diagnosis and treatment concept that focuses more on integration of different disciplines and takes proper consideration into the patients’ physical and mental conditions.
The future precision medicine should involve multiple disciplines – big data, genomics, molecular images, and molecular pathology, and make personalized and customized treatment plans based on patients’ conditions, living environment and lifestyle. In face of the historic opportunity of precision medicine – an area in which Chinese medicine may take the lead, this Forum explored the way of thinking across different disciplines and dimensions, and exhibited a new and comprehensive picture of precision medicine to the industry and the public.
Written address from Chinese medicine master Zhang Daning (PRNewsfoto/Nobel Prize Laureate Summit)
In recent years, the “Preventive Treatment of Disease” concept of traditional Chinese medicine and its strengths in preventing and curing modern diseases have been recognized by more and more countries and medical scientists, particularly after the State Council issued the Outline of the Strategic Plan on Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2016-2030) in 2016, which regards the development of Chinese medicines as a “national strategy” and opens a landmark chapter for the revival of traditional Chinese medicine in a great effort to rejuvenate the Chinese nation as a whole. In this sense, accelerating the development of traditional Chinese medicine has become a strategic issue concerning national confidence, national security and international competition. To meet the trend, Chinese Medicine Industry Innovation Development Forum, which is based in Guiyang– a city well-known for its leadership in the “Chinese medicine industry”, has solicited opinions and strategies from the participants on various issues including the development of Chinese medicine culture and healthcare services, inheritance and innovation of traditional Chinese medicine and folk medicines of ethnic minorities, new services of traditional Chinese medicine, and overseas development of traditional Chinese medicines (folk medicines and medical treatment of Miao minority in particular) from the global point of view and on the national strategic level. During the meeting, TCM master Mr. Zhang Daning, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Mr. Wu Yiling, along with other representatives from political and business circles, have reviewed and analyzed from various angles the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine and the challenges it is now facing.
They have strived to encourage the combination of traditional Chinese medicine’s philosophical thinking and modern technologies so as to yield original and innovative results. In addition, they have made significant achievements in reviving traditional medicines worldwide, promoting the standard establishment, property intellectual rights, and future market of traditional Chinese medicine, and guiding the advances of life sciences – achievements that not only enhance the industrial development of traditional Chinese medicine itself, but make it a vehicle to carry forward China’s splendid culture across the world and effectively improve the cultural exchange and mutual learning among different countries.
Scientific and technologic development needs to be applied to practice – with this aim, in the International Bio-pharmaceutical forum, scientists, business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs, led by three Nobel Prize laureates, have conducted effective discussions from various dimensions on the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine, particularly trending issues regarding the development of Chinese medicine industry after China joined the International Council for Harmonisation (ICH), the vigorous investment and mergers & acquisitions in the medicine sector worldwide, and the “last mile” of technological innovation and industrialization, triggering the “brainstorming” of the participants. Relying on the platform of Nobel Prize International Innovation Center, communication meetings between governments and enterprises, and closed-door business discussions were successfully held to promote the cooperation on numerous international cutting-edge technologies and products in China.
The platform is also designed to create many business incubators in China and other countries (e.g. the United States, Israel, European countries, and Japan) by borrowing the experiences from the United States’ Silicon Valley and China’s Beijing Zhongguancun Life Science Park, in an effort to capitalize the energies from the “brainstorming” and the intellectual accomplishments through profound academic exchanges. The Forum made accurate forecasts of the development trends in the medicine industry and gave an impetus to the resources integration of different regions and around the world as well as the cultivation, exchange and reserve of talented experts – a move that will make active contributions to China’s healthcare causes and provoke tremendous responses from the industry and all walks of life.
The “Nobel Prize Star Award” will also be granted during this Summit. The previous Star Award winners who have completed their studies in a workshop established by some renowned Nobel Prize laureates will come back to the opening ceremony to share with us their learning experiences.
Meanwhile, a rich series of activities will also be conducted on the sideline of the Summit in the next three days, including the “Nobel Laureates’ China Tour” to various science parks, research institutes, hospitals, medical universities, enterprises, middle and primary schools in Guiyang.
The World Nobel Prize Laureate Summit (WNPLS) is a high-profile annual event hosted by the International Society of Scientific Communications for Nobel Prize Laureates (ISSCNL). The Summit was first initiated in 2014 and it was held in Beijing, Tianjin and Chengdu for the past three years. From the capital of China to the deep inland, from Nobel Prize winners, academic elites to prominent scientists from home and abroad, to a new generation of young students and scholars, the Summit has brought together the world’s most advanced medical and technological achievements and has received globally broad support and cooperation from the medical industry.
The vision of the meeting is to carry forward the heritage of the medical world and spread the knowledge among all countries. We expect that this year’s Summit will bring more excitement to the entire medical industry and the Chinese people.
Dr. Marisa López-Teijón, director of Institut Marquès, Dr. Àlex García-Faura, scientific director of the center, and Lluís Pallarés, creator of the Babypod, accept their IG Nobel award.
Their work, published in the prestigious scientific magazine Ultrasound, has discovered how fetal hearing works, showing that fetuses hear from week 16 (when they measure 11 cm / 4 inches), as long as the sound comes to them from the mother’s vagina.
Dr. Marisa López-Teijón, director of Institut Marquès, Dr. Àlex García-Faura, scientific director of the center, and Lluís Pallarés, creator of the Babypod vaginal device, explained the conclusions of the study at MIT. Dr. Alberto Prats, Professor of Anatomy and Human Embryology of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona, is also part of the research team.
This session at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is part of the Ig Nobel Awards Ceremony, which recognize the most surprising and innovative scientific researches of the year.
Ig Nobel Prize for Medicine
Dr. Marisa López-Teijón has been awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for Medicine, the first one in Obstetrics in the 27-year history of the award.
The Ig Nobel ceremony is held at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hosting prestigious scientists from around the world to present their studies to the public in a fun and enjoyable way.
At the ceremony, Dr. Marisa López-Teijón explained: “Institut Marquès is carrying out state-of-the-art research on how music impacts embryonic and fetal development.
We have improved in vitro fertilization by applying musical vibrations inside the incubators in all our fertility clinics.
By inserting a speaker in the vagina of thousands of patients for the first time we have been able to communicate with the fetus. To achieve this we have created the Babypod. This is an FDA approved vaginal speaker that connects to the mobile phone.
Thanks to the Babypod, we have discovered how fetal hearing works: fetuses can barely hear noise outside the womb. The fetal ability to hear starts when the fetus only measures 4 inches or 11cm. Until now medical literature could only confirm that fetuses heard from week 26 onwards.Fetuses responds just like babies, with speech and movements because they are learning to communicate. The myth of talking to your belly is over.”
According to Institut Marquès’ studies, we can now communicate with the fetus and neurologically stimulate it. Any kind of sensory stimulation is good,-and the earlier the better.
Music stimulates language learning. And as we see, learning can begin in the womb.
The Ig Nobel Prize represents a recognition by these prestigious universities for the research of Institut Marquès to improve assisted reproduction treatments.
