Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Feature
  • Published:

South-South entrepreneurial collaboration in health biotech

An Erratum to this article was published on 07 December 2010

This article has been updated

A survey of entrepreneurial collaborations among health biotech firms in developing countries reveals a surprisingly high level of collaboration but a lack of emphasis on new or improved health biotech products and processes.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3: Collaboration network of health biotech firms in South-South collaborations.
Figure 4
Figure 5: The network of collaborations involving end-stage commercialization versus R&D.

Change history

  • 07 December 2010

    In the version of this article initially published, a line was missing connecting India and China in Figure 3. The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

References

  1. Anonymous. South-south trade: vital for development (Policy brief) (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Paris, 2006)

  2. Anonymous. Global economic prospects: crisis, finance, and growth (The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development & The World Bank, Washington, DC, 2010)

  3. Hassan, M.H. Building capacity in the life sciences in the developing world. Cell 131, 433–436 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Mkoka, C. South African scientists welcome Malawi on board. SciDev.Net (17 August 2007).

  5. Thorsteinsdóttir, H., Quach, U., Daar, A.S. & Singer, P.A. Conclusions: promoting biotechnology innovation in developing countries. Nat. Biotechnol. 22 suppl., DC48–DC52 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Frew, S.E. et al. India's health biotech sector at a crossroads. Nat. Biotechnol. 25, 403–417 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Frew, S.E. et al. Chinese health biotech and the three-billion patient market. Nat. Biotechnol. 26, 37–53 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Rezaie, R. et al. Brazilian health biotech – fostering crosstalk between public and private sectors. Nat. Biotechnol. 26, 627–644 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Al-Bader, S. et al. Small but tenacious: South Africa's health biotech sector. Nat. Biotechnol. 27, 427–445 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Morel, C.M. et al. Health innovation networks to help developing countries address neglected diseases. Science 309, 401–404 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Lemle, M. Nations team up to share R & D skills in HIV/AIDS battle. SciDev.Net (28 February 2005)

  12. Ohiorhenuan, J.F.E. & Rath, A. in Desigining the Future: South-South Cooperation in Science and Technology (eds. Zhou, Y. & Gitta, C.) (United Nations Development Programme, New York, 2000)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Pisano, G.P. Science Business: The Promise, the Reality, and the Future of Biotech (Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 2006)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Hagedoorn, J. Inter-firm R&D partnerships: an overview of major trends and patterns since 1960. Res. Policy 31, 477–492 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Faulkner, W. & Senker, J. Knowledge Frontiers: Public Sector Research and Industrial Innovation in Biotechnology, Engineering Ceramics and Parallel Computing (Oxford University Press, 1995).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  16. Lee, C.W. Strategic alliances influence on small and medium firm performance. J. Bus. Res. 60, 731–741 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Roijakkers, N. & Hagedoorn, J. Inter-firm R&D partnering in pharmaceutical biotechnology since 1975: Trends, patterns, and networks. Res. Policy 35, 431–446 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. van Beuzekom, B. & Arundel, A. OECD biotechnology statistics (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Paris, 2006).

  19. Yusuf, S., Nabeshima, K. & Perkins, D. in Dancing with Giants: China, India and the Global Economy (eds. Winteres, L.A. & Ysuf, S.) 35–66 (The World Bank, Washington, DC, and the Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  20. Chaturvedi, K., Chataway, J. & Wield, D. Policy, markets and knowledge: strategic synergies in Indian pharmaceutical firms. Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manage. 19, 565–588 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Bower, D.J. & Sulej, J.C. The Indian challenge: the evolution of a successful new global strategy in the pharmaceutical industry. Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manage. 19, 611–624 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Maiti, R. & Raghavendra, M. Clinical trials in India. Pharmacol. Res. 56, 1–10 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Ray, M., Daar, A.S., Singer, P.A. & Thorsteinsdóttir, H. Globetrotting firms. a survey of Canada's health biotechnology collaboration with developing countries. Nat. Biotechnol. 27, 806–814 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Kale, D. & Little, S. From imitation to innovation: the evolution of R&D capabilities and learning processes in the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manage. 19, 589–609 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Simonetti, R. & Archambault, E. The dynamics of pharmaceutical patenting in India: evidence from USPTO data. Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manage. 19, 625–642 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Thorsteinsdóttir, H. The role of the health system in health biotechnology in developing countries. Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manage. 19, 659–675 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Taylor, A.D. et al. North–South partnerships—a study of Canadian firms. Nat. Biotechnol. 25, 978–979 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Sangkitporn, S. et al. Efficacy and safety of zidovudine and zalcitabine combined with a combination of herbs in the treatment of HIV-infected Thai patients. Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health 36, 704–708 (2005).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the firms that responded to the survey and generously shared their expertise and time. We also thank J. Clark and K. MacDonald for comments on the manuscript. This project was funded by Genome Canada through the Ontario Genomics Institute and by the International Development Research Centre, and was supported by the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, an academic center at the University Health Network and University of Toronto. H.T. is supported by a New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. M.R. is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Training Award.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Halla Thorsteinsdóttir.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

P.A.S. has received consulting funds from Merck Frosst Canada and is on the scientific advisory board of the Bioveda II fund in China.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Methods (PDF 63 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Thorsteinsdóttir, H., Melon, C., Ray, M. et al. South-South entrepreneurial collaboration in health biotech. Nat Biotechnol 28, 407–416 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0510-407

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0510-407

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research