Genzyme in strategic research partnership with China's Tianjin International to get drugs to market, as US biotech is downgraded by Zacks

A signing ceremony was held early this week for a strategic partnership agreement between US biotechnology firm Genzyme and China's Tianjin International Joint Academy of Biotechnology and Medicine (TJAB) in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA).

The strategic partnership between Genzyme and the TJAB is in the fields of application and translational research, preclinical and clinical study, diagnostic testing and therapy, as well as doctoral and postdoctoral education training, and is expected to help quickly and successfully bring the company's innovative drugs to China, promoting innovation and development of the Chinese biopharmaceutical industry.

The TJAB, co-founded by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Health, the State Food and Drug Administration and the Tianjin Municipal People's Government, officially opened in June 2009. As the core and symbol of the BioMed Zone, the academy received 1.1 billion renminbi ($161 million) of investment from the Tianjin Binhai New Area which was used to install specialized apparatus and devices. Leveraging its one-stop service system and dedicated public technology platform, TJAB has been committed to accelerating the process from new drug development to industrialization.