The 8th ChinaBio® Investor Forum, held May 19-20, 2010 in Shanghai, concluded a successful meeting by giving “Most Promising Company” awards to three young China life science companies: Advanced Cell Diagnostics, a diagnostic test company; Reach Surgical, a medical device company developing surgical instruments; and Magpie Pharmaceuticals, a drug discovery company with novel drug candidates for diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.

For sixteen young and mid-life companies, the ChinaBio Investor Forum was a chance to present their business plans to the assembled group of venture capitalists and investors, including The Balloch Group, Mingly China Growth Fund, OrbiMed, Morningside, SUMA Ventures, Lilly Asia Ventures, Mitsui Ventures, and others. Also, several big pharmas with an interest in new technologies participated, including Merck, Pfizer, Roche, Lilly and others. Previous Investor Forums have resulted in placements of over $350 million in venture capital for the presenting companies.

“It is always difficult to select only two ‘Most Promising’ companies as we prescreen all of the companies to ensure they are strong candidates for investment,” said Greg Scott, CEO and founder of ChinaBio® LLC. “But this is the first time our panel of judges ended in a deadlock,” Scott continued, “So we decided, for the first time, to award three Most Promising Company awards.”

Magpie Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., is a drug discovery and development company. It has developed a product platform built on modernizing clinically proven traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Magpie has developed two novel compounds for Parkinson’s disease and diabetes, exhibiting good properties in vitro and in vivo, and plans to begin clinical trials in 2012.

Advanced Cell Diagnostics, Inc. (ACD) focuses on molecular pathology, developing high-value cell- and tissue-based diagnostic tests for personalized medicine. Its proprietary RNAscope™ technology is said to be the first multiplex fluorescent and chromogenic in situ hybridization (ISH) platform capable of detecting and quantifying RNA biomarkers at single molecule sensitivity.

Reach Surgical, Inc. (RSI) is focused on providing surgical products and equipment for developing markets including as China and India. RSI has developed surgical stapling devices for general, thoracic and specialty surgical operations, in addition to laparoscopic instruments.

The event, which was held in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, was the eighth ChinaBio® Investor Forum since the initial conference organized by ChinaBio in December 2007, and the third to be held in Shanghai. This Investor Forum was co-organized by the Shanghai Zhangjiang Biotech & Pharmaceutical Base Development Co., Ltd.

The keynote presentation was delivered by William Keller, Vice-GM and Chairman of Shanghai Zhangjiang Biotech & Pharmaceutical Base Development Co., Ltd., and Chairman of HBM BioMed. Keller is a true pioneer of the pharmaceutical industry in China, who, as the former GM of Roche China, helped build Zhangjiang into the center of biopharmaceutical innovation in China.

The next ChinaBio conference will be the ChinaBio® Partnering Forum, to be held on June 23-24, 2010 in Suzhou. It will be hosted by BioBay, the fastest growing life science park in China, at the Cold Spring Harbor Asia Conference Center on Dushu Lake. Over 600 attendees are expected from more than 30 countries. The event website is www.CBPF2010.com.