Biacore Shanghai-ed

UPPSALA, Sweden—Biomolecular interaction specialist Biacore International announced it has set up shop in China. The company expects the move to be a critical next step in its efforts to develop the rapidly growing life science instrumentation market in China, which it believes was worth $1.6 billion in 2005. Peter Lee, former regional sales manager for GE Healthcare in Southern China, will lead a team of six responsible for sales, marketing, applications support and service throughout the country. They will be based in Shanghai.

Previously, Biacore products were distributed throughout the region through a deal with GE Healthcare, which Erik Walldén, Biacore president and CEO, was quick to thank for establishing Biacore's credentials in the region. "We believe that China has the potential to become a major market for our products and having our own organization will be crucial in achieving our medium term sales targets," Walldén said. "Given the broad range of customers and applications that our systems address, it is crucial that we are in a position to market their key benefits directly to the customers that we target."

The company sees strong opportunities for growth given the expanding number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies arising from or also setting up shop in the region. Likewise, Biacore is expecting to play a more active role in facilitating the growing interest in traditional Chinese medicines as potential sources of new drugs.