Illumina is still stuck in limbo in China. What might it be missing out on as the domestic genomics market there continues to grow?
My podcast guest this week, Matthew Marlowe, visited Illumina’s China operations as part of a two-week tour around the country to meet with and discover companies based there. He runs BridgeCross Bio, a digital publication seeking to provide insight into China’s biotech industry for a Western audience, alongside his boutique life science marketing firm, Genapse.
While some of high-level restrictions placed on Illumina have been removed, it appears that selling sequencers remains challenging. Still, the company should have hope, Marlowe suggested.
“There’s strong brand recognition there and I think respect for the technology and that’s not just gonna disappear,” he said, adding that Western biopharma’s interest in China is only increasing. “That’s a big, presumably addressable segment for Illumina.”
In the larger picture, China’s burgeoning biotech and genomics markets make for the ultimate compare and contrast.
Like the US, it has regional hotspots, intense competition, and a big company whose success has helped seed a second wave of startups, many of whom are now breaking through.
However, the clinical system is both vast and vastly different, marketing approaches can seem stuck in the past, and success abroad — rather than at home — may end up being the difference between making it or not.
We discuss some of the new tech he’ll be watching and what it means for companies based in the US and Europe. Also, Marlowe share’s his favorite roast goose restaurant in Hong Kong.
You can also listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
Show Notes
BridgeCross Bio’s China companies map
BridgeCross Bio’s Substack
Genemind’s recent financing round:
LinkZill microarray synthesizer
WuXi AppTec’s successful legal challenge of inclusion on the US DoD 1260H list
Oxford Nanopore’s legal fight with MGI Tech
EU Patent Court Grants Oxford Nanopore Injunction Against MGI Tech's CycloneSeq
The Munich Local Division of the European Union’s Unified Patent Court has granted Oxford Nanopore Technologies a preliminary injunction against sales of MGI Tech’s nanopore sequencers.
