SHANGHAI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Roche, OrbiMed, and McKinsey announced fifteen finalists of the SEED Competition at the SEED Finalist Coaching Day event in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park on March 2, 2010. The event was managed and presented by ChinaBio^® Accelerator. The finalists will go on to compete for the grand prize of RMB 300,000 to be presented at the SEED Final Competition and Award Ceremony in Shanghai on April 23, 2010. Three finalists will also be selected to receive the SEED Winners Tour, sponsored by BioCentury, an all-expenses-paid trip to the U.S. to meet with investors and entrepreneurs.

The SEED Competition, one of the first life sciences business plan competitions in Greater China, was launched by the organizers, Roche, OrbiMed, and McKinsey, in November, 2009. SEED stands for “Scientists to Entrepreneurs, Education and Development.” The competition is designed to help entrepreneurs and academicians create companies in the life sciences and healthcare field, enhance the technology transfer and commercialization capabilities across the scientific community, and create a platform for commercialization of life sciences and healthcare innovations in China.

In addition to the potential to win cash prizes and awards, SEED participants gain significant exposure to potential investors and other stakeholders in the life sciences community. This experience has been expanded significantly with the addition of the BioCentury-sponsored SEED Winners Tour.

A total of 77 business plans were submitted from regions all over Greater China, covering a wide range of life sciences fields, including drug discovery, drug delivery, enabling tools, diagnostics, medical devices, etc. The fifteen finalists, representing this wide range of fields and geographies, were selected based on the quality of their business plans.

At the SEED Finalists Coaching Day event on March 2, representatives of the organizers and experts from such industry leaders as Morgan Stanley, Perkins Coie, and Charles River shared insights on the current Chinese healthcare industries, key success factors for life sciences start-ups, and personal experiences in life sciences entrepreneurship. The fifteen finalists then were individually announced and received awards that included a cash prize. The finalists also received one-on-one coaching from the organizers and industry experts on topics critical to life sciences start-ups, and enjoyed the unique opportunity to network with potential investors, industry stakeholders, and other competition participants.

For more information about the SEED Competition, please visit www.seedcompetition.com.

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche’s personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2009, Roche had over 80,000 employees worldwide and invested almost 10 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 49.1 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan.

For more information: www.roche.com.

About OrbiMed

OrbiMed is the world’s largest healthcare and life sciences-dedicated investment firm, with over $5 billion in assets under management. Since inception of its private equity investment activities in 1993, OrbiMed has successfully invested in over 100 private companies across a wide range of therapeutic categories and stages of development. OrbiMed’s investment team includes over 30 experienced professionals with backgrounds in science, medicine, industry, finance and law. OrbiMed launched the first pan-Asia healthcare and life sciences-dedicated venture capital fund in 2008, with close to $200 million in commitments. OrbiMed maintains offices in New York City, Shanghai, Mumbai and San Francisco.

For more information: www.OrbiMed.com.

About McKinsey & Company in Greater China

With over 8,000 consultants deployed from over 90 offices in 50 countries, McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm that advises companies and public institutions on issues concerning strategy, organization, operations, and technology. McKinsey's Greater China Practice comprises offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Taipei. McKinsey has completed more than 1,000 projects in Greater China in the past two decades, helping leading local enterprises boost their global competitiveness, as well as assisting multinational companies seeking to expand their business in the region.

For more information: www.china.mckinsey.com.

About ChinaBio^® LLC

Since its founding in 2007, ChinaBio^® LLC has rapidly launched a number of successful initiatives connecting China biotech with the world. With offices in Shanghai, Silicon Valley and San Diego, ChinaBio’s activities include:

• Conferences: Organizing life science investment and partnering forums in China.
• Consulting: Helping big pharma, entrepreneurs and investors achieve success in China.
• Research: Developing research data on technology development, investment, and partnering activity in China.
• ChinaBio^® Today: Publishing online and email newsletters focusing exclusively on China’s life science industry.

For more information: www.ChinaBioLLC.com.

About BioCentury™

Now in its 18th year of service, BioCentury Publications, Inc. is internationally recognized as an essential provider of independent business intelligence and analysis for biopharma executives, scientists, regulators and investors. Headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., and with offices in Chicago; Chadds Ford, Pa; Washington D.C. and Oxford, U.K., BioCentury's information platform includes business and translational science journals, conferences and online databases encompassing corporate strategy, partnering, emerging technology, product development, regulation, public policy and the financing markets.

For more information: www.biocentury.com

All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.