Philippe Archinard is new chairman of France Biotech

During the annual general meeting of France Biotech, the French biotechnology industry association, in Paris, the members of the association, re-elected one fifth of its Board (three Board members), as stipulated by the association's statutes. The renewed Board elected Philippe Archinard as chairman. Philippe Archinard succeeds Philippe Pouletty, who held three terms since 2001, and chose not to seek for a further mandate. With this Philippe Pouletty becomes Honorary Chairman of France Biotech that currently has 150 members. It thus represents most of the French biotech industry's investments, product pipelines and employees.

Philippe Archinard, 46, joined Euronext-listed Transgene as chief executive officer (CEO) in December 2004. Philippe Archinard has been able to raise 35 million in a public refinancing round, seven months after joining the company. During 2000-2004, he had set a new strategy for Innogenetics, a 600-employee, Euronext Brussels-listed Belgian company, by positioning it as a leader in high value-added diagnostics, focusing on infectious diseases, neurodegeneration, and genetic testing. Philippe had previously spent 15 years at BioMérieux, where he held a range of management positions (including as CEO of the company's US operations). Philippe Archinard holds a degree in chemical engineering and a PhD in Biochemistry from Lyon University, and has completed the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School.

Philippe Archinard said, "Our upcoming Action Plan features the need to free up the financing chain for innovative SMEs downstream in order to boost investment upstream and produce European champions; work closely with research institutes to better promote and enhance French academic research; extend France Biotech's activities and network to the entire life science industry; and continue promoting the social and ethical value, as well as the image of life science."

Source: www.france-biotech.org

Dhaka outlines biotech policy

Bangladesh has adopted the National Policy Guidelines on Biotechnology to accelerate multidimensional research for food security, health and environment.

Following a recommendation by the National Task Force that was formed in early 2004, the policy was framed after extensive research.

The broad objectives of the policy aim at increasing production and preservation capacities of various crops, fish and medicinal items as well as restoring various useful species and ensuring safety of public health and environment.

The National Task Force on Biotechnology chaired by the country's Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has delineated a 20-year-long roadmap on biotechnology "on priority basis" to utilize the potentialities and scope for development, research and application of biotechnology to alleviate poverty, increase food security and improve health, nutrition and livelihood of the people.

McKinsey report predicts growth in industrial biotech sector

McKinsey & Company has predicted that by 2010 industrial biotechnology will account for 10 percent of sales within the chemical industry, accounting for $125 billion in value.

Jens Riese, a partner at McKinsey & Company, presenting the up-to-date data and projections for adoption of industrial biotechnology within the biofuels and chemicals industries, in a plenary titled "Industrial Biotechnology-Turning Potential into Profits," at the third annual World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing in Toronto, said that McKinsey & Company has 90 percent confidence in this projected growth, based on the current value of industrial biotechnology. Already as of 2005, industrial biotechnology - counting products made from biobased feedstocks or through fermentation or enzymatic conversion - accounts for 7 percent of sales and $77 billion in value within the chemical sector.

Much of the projected growth in adoption of industrial biotechnology is attributable to biofuels - ethanol and biodiesel - as production is rapidly increasing to meet demand driven by government mandates. Other areas projected to grow rapidly include pharmaceutical ingredients, polymers, and enzymes.

However, Riese stressed, to meet future demand and maintain growth, biofuel production will have to adopt biotechnology processes that make use of broader feedstocks, including cellulose biomass. "To meet demand just from mandated usage, we need to do something different. The key to expanding biofuel production is tapping into new agricultural feedstocks," Riese said.

Source: www.bio.org