Weishi Li, PhD, JD
Partner, Covington & Burling  LLP        

Weishi Li is a partner in Covington's Beijing office and a member of the Life Sciences and Corporate Groups.  Her practice covers a wide range of intellectual property and technology-related transactions across multiple technology sectors, including the life sciences, healthcare, and hi-tech industries.  She has extensive experience assisting multinational companies and Chinese companies in structuring and negotiating cross-border IP and technology-related transactions such as licensing, strategic alliances, joint ventures, distribution and OEM relationship.  Ms. Li also regularly provides IP counseling to leading PE/VC funds and multinational companies in investing into or acquiring technology and life sciences companies in China, including conducting substantive patent due diligence review on target companies.

Yuelei Shen, PhD
President & CEO, Biocytogen

Dr. Yuelei Shen is the president and CEO of Biocytogen, a company devoting to providing the quickest mouse gene-targeting CRO service around the world, with the most competitive price. Biocytogen provides mouse gene-targeting CRO service to academic entities and pharmaceutical companies both in China and abroad (US, Europe).

Dr. Shen brings 20 years of expertise in immunology research and development to the Company.  He has extensive experience in autoimmune disease research and generating knockout and knockin mice utilizing gene-targeting technology. Prior to Biocytogen, Dr. Shen worked on quality control of a polio vaccine, the MMR vaccine, and the Influenza virus vaccine at the National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products, State Food and Drug Administration, Beijing, China.

Dr. Shen received his PhD at University of Massachusetts Medical School with concentration studying MHC class I antigen presentation, mainly using molecular biology and biochemistry approaches. His post-doctorate work was performed at Howard Hughes Medical Institute/New York University School of Medicine. Dr. Shen’s work has focused on generating reporter mice. Prior to Biocytogen, he had designed and generated many gene-targeted mouse models and reporter mice.  Using these mice, he studied EAE (multiple sclerosis mouse model), asthma, colitis, and arthritis.

Dan Zhang, MD
Chairman & CEO, Fountain Medical Development
 

Dr. Dan Zhang has more than 15 years of drug development experience. He is the Chairman and CEO of Fountain Medical Development Ltd, a full-service clinical CRO with primary operation in South East Asia and China. FMD runs phase I/II/III operations in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, central lab operation with the full support of regulatory affairs, data management and biostatistics, EDC and pharmacoeconomics operation.

Previously, Dr. Zhang was the Head of Clinical Development and Global Safety Assessment at Sigma-Tau Research Inc, a vice president at the Quintiles Transnational Corp., a member of Quintiles Executive Operation Committee, and also the Chairman of the Board, Quintiles Medical Development (Shanghai) Company Ltd. Before joining Quintiles, Dr. Zhang provided consulting services to many pharmaceutical, medical device and health insurance companies, such as Eli Lilly and Company, Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc., Medtronic, Inc., and CIGNA Health Care.

Over the last 15 years, Dr. Zhang has established a strong working relationship with government and academic institutions in China. He is a member of the grant application review committee for the National Key Drug Development Fund jointly managed by the Ministry of Science & Technology (MOST) and Ministry of Public Health (MOPH). He chairs the Bayhelix’ SFDA working committee and works with the agency on the development of technical guidelines. Dr. Zhang is also a consultant for the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA). He was a member of the Overseas Expert Committee on New Drug R&D from MOST. He was also a visiting professor at the Harbin Medical University of China. He is currently a senior consultant to Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences/Peking Union Medical College. Dr. Zhang was an Executive Director of Sino-American Professional Pharmaceutical Society (SAPA). He was the President (2006~2007) of the Chinese Biopharmaceutical Association-USA (CBA), and was a board of director of Bayhelix, a life-science organization for the senior executives from major pharmaceutical/biotech firms and for the founders of startup life sciences companies.

Dr. Zhang received his pre-med training from Peking University and received his MD from Peking Union Medical College. He continued his study at the Harvard School of Public Health and received an MPH in health policy and management. Then he continued his training at the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he obtained his master’s degree in healthcare management in 1998 and is working on his PhD dissertation in the field of health economics and finance.

Henry Sun
President & CEO, Tasly Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Dr. Sun is the Vice President of China Tasly Group and co-founder and CEO of Tasly Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Maryland, USA. His responsibilities at these Corporations include managing all R&D activities, leading global regulatory and clinical programs, developing worldwide collaborations, investment and M&As, operating academic research and education programs, assisting international marketing, and designing quality control programs for the Corporation. In the past 5 years, Dr. Sun and group have successfully registered 20+ new drugs in 32 countries and completed the first-ever global phase II clinical trial for TCM and are now targeting worldwide phase III trials and registration at the US FDA. His view for Tasly Group is to bring this top 3 China based pharmaceutical company to be a global pharma within the next 5 years. Dr. Sun received his PhD degree from the University of Connecticut in 1993 and served as the Expert Regulatory Scientist at the FDA up to 2006 before his current position. Dr. Sun is also a Special Professor at University of Nottingham, School of Medicine.

Helen Chen
Director and Partner, Head of China Life Sciences
L.E.K. Consulting

Helen Chen is a director and partner of L.E.K. Consulting based in Shanghai. She is the co-head of the China office and a member of L.E.K.’s Global Leadership Team, the firm’s governing committee. Helen has over 20 years of consulting and industry experience in the U.S. and Asia, and has resided in China since 2000.

Helen is the head of L.E.K.’s China life sciences practice, with extensive case work and industry experience covering the full bio/pharmaceutical and medtech value chain, ranging from early research services to post-market product positioning and sales force effectiveness. She is on the Editorial Board of PharmAsia and on the Advisory Committee for BIO China. Helen is a sought after speaker and author on the opportunities and issues in the China healthcare and life sciences.

Prior to joining L.E.K., Helen held senior management roles at a number of technology companies in the U.S. and China. She was an associate director of finance at Genentech and a sales planner at Abbott Laboratories. She was on the Board of Pharmaceutical Management Sciences Association from 1995 to 1997, and was honored by Who’s Who Among American Women from 1993 to 1995.

Helen received her A.B. cum laude in applied mathematics from Harvard University. 

Shaoyu Chen
Partner, Covington & Burling LLP

Shaoyu Chen is a member of Covington’s Food and Drug practice group and the managing director of its China food and drug practice.  Mr. Chen has over 10 years of experience in food and drug law, including serving as assistant chief counsel at the United States Food and Drug Administration Office of Chief Counsel, as senior counsel at Amgen Inc., and as chief compliance counsel for GE Healthcare China.  Mr. Chen represents pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, food, dietary supplement, and cosmetic companies in matters before the China SFDA, the U.S. FDA, and other government agencies.  He regularly assists clients on legal and regulatory issues related to SFDA and FDA oversight, including those pertaining to preclinical research, clinical trial, marketing approval, advertising and promotion, manufacturing GMP, pharmacovigilance, import and export, and compliance with Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and China Anti-Unfair Competition Law.

Wassim Nashabeh, PhD
Global Head, Technical Regulatory Policy & Strategy, Genentech, Inc.

Dr Wassim Nashabeh received his PhD in Analytical Chemistry from Oklahoma State University in 1993, and his post-doctoral fellowship from “Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis” at Northeastern University where he developed new approaches for the separation of closely related recombinant protein variants.  Thereafter, he joined PerSeptive Biosystems as a Senior Scientist from 1994-1996, where he co-developed new schemes for antibody modification with fluorescent and enzymatic labels for use in micro-fabricated chips based immunoassays.

In 1996, Dr Wassim Nashabeh joined Genentech (A member of the Roche Group) as a Scientist and had since held several positions of increasing responsibilities including Associate Director, Methods validation group, Director Quality Control Clinical Development, Director in the CMC Regulatory Affairs Group, Sr. Director of CMC Policy & Strategy and most recently as Global Head, Technical Regulatory Policy & Strategy for the Roche Pharma Medicines Group. His current primary responsibilities include the development of global innovative regulatory strategies, as well as the development of key positions on a variety of subjects of significant impact to Pharma Technical Operations. Dr Nashabeh chairs the Pharma Technical External Interactions Steering Committee with responsibility for the oversight of all external outreach activities with global health authorities, industry associations and scientific organizations on technical matters.

Dr Nashabeh is the author/co-author of over 30 scientific publications, reviews and patents in the field of separation science and biotechnology. Wassim is a member of the Expert Working Group for the International Committee on Harmonization representing the BIO organization on Quality topics (currently Q11 and Q3D).  Wassim is also a member of the Board of Directors of CASSS (an International Separation Science Society), co-founder and chair of the “International Symposium of CE in the pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Industries”, a permanent committee member of the CMC strategy forum conference series, co-founder of the CMC Forum Europe Conference Series as well as a member of the program committee for the WCBP conference series. Dr Nashabeh has co-chaired several biotechnology forums and events that focused on a variety of CMC related issues over the last 10 years including “Lifecycle approach of Setting Product Specifications”, “Changing paradigms for process validation”, “Design of Stability Studies”, “Quality by Design for Biotechnology Products” and “Comparability for Biotech Products”.

Chang Weihong
Division Chief, Drug Registration, State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA)

Ms. Chang has been serving as the Deputy Director of the Biological Products Division of the Drug Registration Department of the SFDA for 2 years. Over the course of her career, Ms. Chang has been involved in a number of vaccine and diagnostics evaluations and has participated in the drafting of many biological products registration regulations and technology guidelines.

Previously, she worked at the SFDA Center for Drug Evaluation for 10 years, where she served in numerous positions, including Director of Biological Products, Program Head, and Chief Reviewer, among others.

Ms. Chang graduated from Peking University in 1990 with a major in Biology.

Alan Gordon Lamont 
Senior Director, Global External R&D, Regional Head ACEJ and Emerging Markets, Eli Lilly 

Dr. Lamont currently serves as a Senior Director in the Global External R&D group at Eli Lilly and Company and is based at the company’s site in Erl Wood, London, U.K. His team is responsible for identifying and evaluating external licensing and collaboration opportunities across key regional territories (Europe, Japan, Australia, China, India and Latin America), and working with evaluation, diligence and transactional teams at Lilly to bring these opportunities to fruition. Prior to joining Lilly in 2012, he was an Executive Business Development Director at AstraZeneca UK (Alderley Park), and before that, has worked for various biotech and pharma companies in both the UK (Acambis, Catalyst Biomedica, Peptide Therapeutics Roche UK) and the US (Cytel Corp, San Diego).

Joe McCracken
Global Head of Business Development, Roche

Joseph McCracken is currently the Global Head for Business Development & Licensing for Roche Pharma Partnering.  In this role Dr. McCracken is responsible for Roche’s Pharma’s in-licensing and out-licensing activities, and he is currently based in Nutley, New Jersey.

Prior to joining the Roche Pharma Partnering organization, Dr. McCracken held the position of Vice President, Business Development at Genentech for more than 10 years.  At Genentech Joe was responsible for all business development activities at the Company, including the identification and negotiation of collaboration and licensing agreements with academic institutions, biotechnology companies and pharmaceutical companies throughout the world.  Dr. McCracken returned to Genentech in 2000 after a seven-year absence, during which he held positions as President of Technology Licensing and Alliances at Aventis, and Vice President of Worldwide Business and Technology Development at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer S.A.  During his earlier time with Genentech, Dr. McCracken served in many capacities, culminating in positions as Director of Business Development and Representative Director of Genentech Ltd., Genentech’s wholly owned subsidiary in Japan.

McCracken has more than 25 years of experience in technical, business development and market development roles with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology, a Master of Science in Pharmacology and a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from The Ohio State University. 

Steve Yang
Vice President, Head of R&D for Asia and Emerging Markets, AstraZeneca

Dr. Steve Yang is Vice President, Head of R&D for Asia and Emerging Markets at AstraZeneca. He is based in Shanghai, China and is responsible for developing, implementing and aligning the company’s R&D strategy for Asia and Emerging Markets.

Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Dr. Yang was Vice President, Head of Asia R&D at Pfizer, where he was charged with establishing and expanding the company’s research partnership network with academic institutions, biotechnology firms and Contract Research Organizations across Asia Pacific. He was also responsible for delivering a portfolio of preclinical and clinical stage projects targeting unmet medical needs of emerging markets. Prior to his leadership position in Asia, Dr. Yang was Executive Director and head of the company’s global R&D strategic management group.

Before joining Pfizer Dr. Yang held a number of positions at IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals, a US-based biotech company and also worked for Strategic Decisions Group (SDG), a management consulting firm for Fortune 100 companies.
Dr Yang is the co-founder of the BayHelix Group, a non-profit professional organization of Chinese life science business leaders.

Dr. Yang received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of California, USA. He started his undergraduate study in Fudan University, China and completed his BS Summa Cum Laude in Biology from Michigan Technological University, USA. 

George Baeder
Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific Consulting and China Commercial, Quintiles

George leads Quintiles Consulting Asia/Pacific and the firm’s Commercial business in China, based in Shanghai.  He has spent over 30 years in Asia working with leading Asian and Western firms to build profitable high-growth businesses  in the region’s most challenging and complex markets.  He is widely considered to be a thought leader in the industry, having worked on the cutting edge of innovative approaches to market entry, R&D, access and new commercial models - helping clients take decisive moves ahead of competitors.

His life science consulting in began with as an advisor on the first pharma joint venture in China set up by an Astra-led consortium of five Swedish companies in Wuxi. Since then he has work with all of the leading Western biopharma firms both in China and across the Asian region. George combines strong strategy skills and analytics with an intensely practical focus on implementation.

Prior to joining Quintiles Consulting, George led the Monitor Group’s Life Science practice in Asia for nine years. In the early part of his career, George built two professional services firms that he subsequently sold to leading global players in their respective fields. He then spent three years as an investment banker with working on Asian-focused life science transactions.

George was educated in Economics at Lafayette College and then studied China’s economic development at Oakland University and Taiwan Normal University.

John V. Oyler
Senior Vice Founder and CEO, BeiGene

John Oyler is a serial entrepreneur with a track record of success.  John has raised over $270 million in capital, each round providing positive returns.  John is most known for building highly functional, passionate, world-class organizations.

Currently, John is Founder & CEO of BeiGene. BeiGene is a Chinese life sciences biotechnology company based in Beijing that is focused on discovering and developing innovative oncology drugs that will address unmet medical needs in cancers that are prevalent in China and the Asia-Pacific region. It was founded by Dr. Xiaodong Wang, Head of The National Institute of Biologic Sciences in Beijing and Member of National Academy of Sciences, USA; Dr. Peter Ho, Former VP of Oncology Development at Johnson & Johnson; and Dr. Pearl Huang, Former VP Integrator and Head of Biomarker Discovery and Early Development Strategy for Oncology at Merck.

John has also started several companies such as BioDuro (sold to PPD), a 670+ person research company in Beijing that was a leader in its vision and ability to successfully undertake in fully integrated programs; Galenea , a private drug discovery company developing drugs for CNS and respiratory disease; Genta (GNTA), a publicly traded company which later grew to a market capitalization of over $US1.6 billion; and Telephia, an information services company for the telecommunications industry that was purchased by Nielsen for just under $500 million.

He spent four years at McKinsey where he spent 1992-3 working in China. He holds a BS from MIT and an MBA from Stanford.

Qiao Shanbo
General Manager, PICC Health Insurance Shanghai

Qiao Shanbo, MHP, serves as the general manager of the PICC Health Insurance Company Limited, Shanghai Branch, and has over a decade of experience in the administration of private health insurance. From 2008 to 2011, he worked as the general manager of product development in PICC’s head health office, and from 2005-2007 he was the deputy general manager of the PICC Shanghai branch. He has also worked as the general manager of China Pacific Life Insurance’s health department and as a product manager at Pingan Life Insurance Company. He holds a BS in mathematics from Zhengzhou University, and a postgraduate degree in business administration from Huanghe University.

Bai Chunxue, PhD
Professor of Medicine and Chief of Pulmony Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University

Dr. Bai was trained at Beijing Union Medical College and Shanghai Medical University. He was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of California, San Francisco, USA, from 1997 to 1998. He is the Director of Respiratory Research Institute, Fudan University, Professor and Chairman of Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University.  Dr. Bai also serves as President of Shanghai Respiratory Association, Vice President of Chinese Respiratory Association, International Regent of ACCP, and National Delegate of People's Republic of China of ERS.  He is founder and Chairman of the International Symposium on Respiratory Diseases, which has become one of the largest and leading respiratory conferences in Asia and China.

Dr Bai is a world-recognized scientist through his scientific contributions to understanding the pathogenesis of and therapies for ARDS, COPD and lung cancer. He developed a fiberoptic fluorescence oxygen and pH sensor for real-time blood gas analysis.  Dr. Bai is known for his pioneering work of a cell phone-based remote monitoring system for lung function and has been included in Who’s Who at ATS.  He has authored more than 370 papers, including 70 papers in SCI indexes and 30 book chapters. 

Li Qing
Director, Medicines Science and Technology Development Center, Ministry of Health

Mr. Li Qing is responsible for compiling the Development Plan for Medical Science and Technology during the “Twelfth-Five Year Plan” period; assisting and organizing to implement two national key science and technology programs, “New Drugs Innovation and Development” and “Major Infectious Diseases”; initiating special scientific research programs for medical health industry in 2010 and 2011; organizing to disseminate the applicable health technologies; taking charge of the management and coordination of the remote continuing education for health industry; assuming the work of the Health Industry Teaching Material Management Office; and providing technical service and agency service concerning medical health industry.

Mr. Li was chief of the Industry Development Department of China National Center for Biotechnology between 2007 and 2010, associate research fellow of the Policy Coordination Department of China National Center for Biotechnology between 2002 and 2007, appointed assistant to director of Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission between November 2006 and June 2009, in charge of the preparatory work for establishing “National Bio-Medicine International Innovation Park” and “Tianjin International Joint Academy of Biotechnology and Medicine”. Before this, he was assistant research fellow of the Gene and Cell Engineering Department of China Bioengineering Development Center.

Li Qing graduated from the Department of Biology of Nankai University, majoring in plant physiology and ecology.

Weiguo Su , PhD
EVP, Chief Scientific Officer, Hutchison Medi Pharma 

Prior to joining HMP in 2005, Dr. Su spent fifteen years with Pfizer's US R&D organization. Dr. Su delivered several high quality new drug candidates during his time with Pfizer, most recently as a director in the Medicinal Chemistry Department. He received his PhD and post-doctoral fellowship in Chemistry from Harvard University under the guidance of Nobel Laureate Professor E. J. Corey, and his Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Fudan University in Shanghai, China.

Yinxiang Wang, PhD
CEO & Chief Scientist, Zhejiang BetaPharma Co., Ltd.

Dr. Wang was a postdoctal research fellow in molecular biophysics and biochemistry field at Yale University, from 1999 to 2002. In 2003, Dr. Wang returned to China and founded Beijing Noval Drug R&D Center of Zhejiang Beta Pharma Inc. Dr. Wang is also an Adjunct Professor at Drug Safety Evaluation Center of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

Jinzi J. Wu, PhD
Co-Founder, President & CEO, Ascletis Inc.

Dr. Jinzi J. Wu is Co-founder, President and CEO of Ascletis, Inc. He successfully completed $100M Series A financing in 2011, including a first tranche of $50M. He has assembled world-class team and investors to deliver the Company’s two pronged business strategy: near-term accelerated revenue generation and long-term value creation.

Prior to founding Ascletis, Dr. Wu was Vice President, HIV drug discovery performance unit and Head of infectious disease (ID) Discovery DMPK at GSK. He oversaw the global HIV drug discovery from target identification and lead optimization to the preclinical and clinical development. Over the last two years (2009 and 2010), under Dr. Wu’s leadership, his Unit delivered two phase II clinical drugs with the best-in-class potential and one phase I asset. In his role as Head of ID Discovery DMPK, he supported drug discovery in other therapeutic areas such as antibacterials.

Prior to his joining GSK in June, 2008, Dr. Wu was Vice President, Preclinical and Basic Research from 2004-2008 at Ambrilia Biopharma Inc (formerly Procyon Biopharma Inc), a biopharmaceutical company devoted to the development of anti-viral drugs. At Ambrilia, he oversaw and supported activities from the preclinical to clinical development. Dr. Wu was instrumental in the development of PPL-100, a clinical stage, next generation HIV protease inhibitor which was licensed to Merck in 2006 for $17 million upfront payment and milestone payments up to $215 million as well as significant royalties.

From 1992-2004, he held senior positions, with increasing responsibilities, at Biotech and Big Pharma including Immunex (now Amgen), Novartis and Hoechst Marion Roussel (now Sanofi-Aventis). Dr. Wu has 22 years R&D experience with Big Pharma, biotech and academic institutions. His experience in drug discovery and development involves in multiple therapeutic area with the focus on infectious diseases and oncology. He has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in prestigious journals and books. He is a co-inventor of a number of patent applications. He is also a regular speaker and chairperson at various US and international scientific conferences and delivered over 30 oral and poster presentations. He is a member of scientific committees of the international conferences including the International Workshop on HIV & Hepatitis Virus Drug Resistance and Curative Strategies and a member of BayHelix. Dr. Wu received his PhD in Cancer Biology from the University of Arizona.

Richard Yeh, MD
Head, China Healthcare Research, Citi Investment Research

Richard Yeh is the head of China healthcare research at the Citi Investment Research in Hong Kong, and he was ranked No.2 in both the 2012 and 2011 All-China Institutional Investor Survey, and #3 in All-Asia Institutional Investor Survey. Richard joined the Hong Kong-based China research team from Citi’s New York office, where he was a member of the U.S. large-cap biotechnology/healthcare team that was ranked No.4 in both 2008 and 2009 All-America Institutional Investor Survey. Before joining Wall Street, Richard gained extensive industry experience working at the global strategic marketing group at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and conducted drug discovery research at Amgen.