The MOU was signed online by Prof. WANG Zuankai, Associate Vice President (Research and Innovation), PolyU.
The MOU was signed online during the 2022 Pujiang Healthcare Industry & Finance Integration and Innovation Summit.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Shanghai Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited (SPH) and Biopharma Evolution, a subsidiary of SPH, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore academia-industry collaboration on biomedicine research projects in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The partnership creates a synergy among the three entities’ innovation strengths, riding on PolyU’s world leadership in academic research with the rank among global top 100 tertiary education institutions, SPH’s strong competitiveness in healthcare business and Biopharma Evolution’s innovation transformation platform. With the support of the Shanghai Government, Biopharma Evolution was newly established to reinforce cutting-edge research and to foster innovation translation in biomedicine. This collaboration aims to integrate the three institutions’ expertise to contribute to the Nation’s biomedical research and development.
PolyU has discussed with SPH on how to collaborate in drug development. The discussions cover various research topics such as different targeted therapies, protein interaction inhibitor and autophagy modulators. Under the MOU, the parties will organise regular academic exchange activities to proactively identify potential research projects and other cooperative opportunities.
Robust growth in healthcare and pharmaceutical industry has boosted the development of biomedicine sector. PolyU is committed to strengthen the research in biotechnology, with excellent achievements particularly in drug development. Five research projects involving PolyU scholars had received the status of Investigational New Drug (IND) approvals by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In light of public health challenges such as COVID-19, PolyU has demonstrated its inter-disciplinary research capabilities by providing innovative solutions such as the use of rapid DNA sequencing technology to monitor and potentially stop the spread of COVID-19, the development of portable nucleic acid testing device for rapid diagnosis and the design and production of anti-virus 3D printed protective gears etc. Academia-industry collaboration is essential to transform impactful innovations. This cooperation among PolyU, SPH and Biopharma Evolution will accelerate translational projects and eventually lead to the development of more new drugs to benefit the mankind.
The MOU was signed online by Prof. WANG Zuankai, Associate Vice President (Research and Innovation), PolyU and Mr. ZUO Min, President of Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holding Co., Ltd. and Biopharma Evolution during the 2022 Pujiang Healthcare Industry & Finance Integration and Innovation Summit.
