Two companies received the prestigious "Most Promising Company" award at the ChinaBio® Investor Forum held in Shanghai.  The winning companies were chosen from 21 companies that presented to over 250 attendees, including nearly 80 venture capitalists at the event.  The winning companies were Shenogen Pharma Group of Beijing, and Beyond Diagnostics Inc. based in Shanghai. 

"Shenogen and Beyond Diagnostics best represent the accelerating trend in China toward the development of new, novel technologies rather than 'me too' products," said Greg Scott, President and Founder of ChinaBio® Accelerator.  "While the choice was difficult, as all of the presenting companies were excellent, our panel of venture capitalists did a tremendous job of selecting the best of the best."  (See www.CBIF2008.com "Speakers" for a complete list of presenting companies.)

Shenogen Pharma is developing small molecule drugs for breast cancer and obesity based on novel estrogen receptor, ER-36, discovered by one of its founders.  The company believes it holds a strong IP postion based on technology in-licensed from a US university.  Perkins Coie LLP, a US-based law firm with offices in Shanghai and Beijing, serve as their IP attorneys, and were sponsors of the ChinaBio® Investor Forum.  Dr. Jin Li, COO, accepted the award on behalf of Shenogen. 

Beyond Diagnostics is developing a new generation of chemluminescent assays and integrated analyzers for clinical and hospital laboratories.  Their high throughput instrument has received SFDA aproval and is expected to be on the market by the end of this year.  Accepting the award was Dr. Weiguo Zhao, Managing Director of Beyond Diagnostics.

The final selection of the winning companies was made by a panel of 12 venture capitalists active in China including Sofinnova Partners, China Renaissance, WI Harper Group, Mingly China Growth Fund, HBM BioMed China, Morningside, Lilly Ventures, Fidelity Asia Ventures, CDIB BioScience, Bay City Capital and Mustang Ventures.  Also participating were executives from Merck and Roche, both sponsors of the event.  The award was sponsored by Unitalen Attorneys at Law, a prominent IP law firm in China, and presented by Kan Zu, a partner at the firm.

The ChinaBio® Investor Forum is the only event of its type in China that showcases early stage life science companies based in or having operations in China. These events bring these companies together with investors from China, the US, Europe and Japan, as well as pharmaceutical and biotech companies, that are looking for investment or in-licensing opportunities. 

The ChinaBio® Investor Forum is organized by ChinaBio® Accelerator, a sister organization to ChinaBio® Today.