The Third Annual ChinaBio® Partnering Forum 2011, held May 11-12 in Beijing, exceeded expectations, growing 19% over last year’s conference , according to co-organizers ChinaBio® LLC and EBD Group. This year’s Partnering Forum was host to 658 attendees from 370 companies and 25 countries. More than 800 one-to-one meetings were held, making this the largest and most productive life science conference in China, according to the organizers.

ChinaBio® Partnering Forum was created to bring together China life science companies seeking partnerships and with global pharma and biotech companies from Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere.

The theme of this year’s ChinaBio® Partnering Forum was “Capturing Innovation” and for the first time included an Innovation Showcase featuring 29 leading researchers from China’s top universities and institutes presenting their novel discoveries. Interest was high among the attendees in the presentations which showcased 15 novel drugs, four diagnostics and 10 other technologies.

On a parallel track, 38 life science companies detailed their technologies and businesses to prospective partners and investors. Companies from around the globe were represented and included 13 China enterprises.

“The third ChinaBio® Partnering Forum built upon the success of our earlier conferences, bringing more life science executives together in China than ever before,” said Greg Scott, CEO and founder of ChinaBio® LLC. “With about 1/3 of our attendees from outside China, the ChinaBio® Partnering Forum is now the most international conference focused on life science in China.”

“We were very pleased by the high level of partnering activity in the conference,” added Carola Schropp, CEO and founder of EBD Group. “With over 2500 meeting requests and over 800 one-to-one meetings, it’s apparent that our Chinese participants are successfully leveraging our partneringONE® system to identify potential partners from around the world.”

Partnering has become a significant component of China’s explosive biopharma industry. The number of partnering deals has grown 24% over the last two years, with co-development deals the fastest growing segment, according to data from ChinaBio LLC’s research team. The rapid increase has been driven by China’s robust pipeline of over 3,200 novel molecules, nearly 200 of which are in clinical development.

The Fourth Annual ChinaBio® Partnering Forum will be held in Suzhou next year, and is expected to exceed 750 attendees. More information about both this year’s next year’s events are available at www.ebdgroup.com/cbpf.