2nd Annual Bio Cross-border Investment & Partnership Summit 2020: Insights and Summary
On Dec 18th, 2020, the 2nd Annual Bio Cross-border Investment & Partnership Summit was successfully held in Shanghai, China. Over 70+ life science executives and investors joined our team in Shanghai, and 10+ overseas biotech executives presented virtually from their homes during the summit. This event was jointly organized by MSQ Ventures, CMG-SDIC Capital (State Development & Investment Corporation), and Pharnex, aiming to provide a platform that boosts cross-border communication and collaboration in the biopharmaceutical industry. Under the current situation of a global pandemic, such a hybrid conference model of both in-person and virtual is a creative and successful way to escalate global cooperation by connecting the parties around the world.
At the beginning of the summit, Naijun Zhou, Managing Director at SDIC Fund Management, Shawn Shi, Venture Partner at MSQ, and Edison Chen, Partner of Pharnex gave the opening speech. Naijun Zhou, Managing Director at SDIC Fund Management introduced SDIC cross-border projects, and he mentioned that the current pharmaceutical investment strategy for SDIC was to adapt to industry changes, develop an in-depth layout of innovative companies, support the transformation and upgrading of large pharmaceutical companies, and help China's pharmaceutical industry to enhance its innovation capabilities.
Echo Hindle-Yang, Founder & CEO at MSQ Ventures, initiated a live session with Martin Welschof, CEO of BioInvent, and shared the experience of closing the licensing deals with CASI Pharmaceuticals during the pandemic time. They talked about the challenges for the deal “discussion” and decision-making during the pandemic, criteria for exploring China partners, and advice for Chinese and western biotech companies’ executives who were looking for partnering opportunities in China.
Christina Zhang, Partner in Charge – Shanghai at COOLEY LLP illustrated the keynote topic "Negotiating License Agreements: Terms to Watch Out For". She listed some major considerations in licensing deals, including negotiation objectives, licensing scope, financial terms, decision-making, and transaction protection considerations. Vivian Tsoi, Partner - Shanghai at White & Case, introduced "CFIUS, FDI and other regulatory considerations in 2021" together with Farhad Jalinous, Partner at Washington DC, White & Case, and Tilman Kuhn, Partner at Düsseldorf, Brussels, White & Case.
Panel Discussion 1: "Engagement" Relationship: How to Close Deals
Michael Yan, Vice President/Commerical at Kintor Pharmaceutical, Tian Zhu, BD VP at Jacobio Pharmaceuticals, Paul Tong, BD Vice President at Nicoya Therapeutics, and Jimmy Zhang, CEO at Jingke Pharma joined the first panel discussion. Trying to close deals was similar to an “engagement” relationship, and the panelists put forward their insights on things to consider when seeking to establish the relationship in the first step.
Panel Discussion 2: "Post Marriage": Things to Consider after Closing Deals
Shawn Shi, Venture Partner at MSQ, moderated this panel with panelists Jun Hong, BD Vice President at Winhealth Pharma, Di Wu, BD Vice President at TransThera Biosciences, Feng Zhou, BD at Haisco Pharmaceutical, and Jing Liu, BD Director at Anheart Therapeutics. During the discussion, they mentioned that after closing deals, the relationship between/ among related parties evolved into a “post-marriage” resemblant interaction, and there would definitely be friction because of different cultures, various processes, and details handling. Communication, trust, and speed were important to advance the connection to the next step.
Company Presentation:
In addition to keynotes and panels, there were in total 10 biotech companies presenting their assets in 4 different sessions during the summit. The virtual presentation sessions were moderated by Joyce Zhang, Project Manager at MSQ Ventures. With her on-site translation and brief summary, the presentations were well-received by the attending Chinese experts. Over 20 companies indicated their interests in the presenting projects and submitted their targeted questions to MSQ.
The 10 presenting companies were:
Faron Pharmaceuticals, Aqualung Therapeutics, Vidac Pharma, RaQualia Pharma, Idience, TRIGR Therapeutics, Selecxine, SOTIO, WinSanTor, and Aposense.
During the coffee break and intervals of each session, MSQ provided the attendants with 1-1 meeting opportunities to communicate with top tier Chinese investors and strategic partners.
In all, we highly appreciate our partners including SDIC Fund Management Co, Pharnex, Cooley LLP, and White & Case LLP for preparing for this summit and providing such communication and partnering platform. We want to thank all the attendants, including our Chinese pharmaceutical partners and executives, Chinese investors, service providers, and overseas biotech executives who participated in this summit. And thanks to MSQ Ventures' team efforts in planning for this summit and to make this successful event possible in the pandemic.
It was a great and exciting experience and we look forward to meeting everyone again next year!