The R&D wing at Sanofi-Aventis is turning to China to find new ways to fight cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. The French pharma giant wants to forge a half dozen research partnerships with scientists in state-funded labs and Chinese universities. Analysts note that while China has become a key player for low cost- -and sometimes high risk--drug manufacturing, Chinese officials have been investing huge sums [1] to build up its drug research operations. China intends to become a leader in drug research, and the world's drug developers are playing close attention to the opportunities that trend will offer them.

"I think the amount of people with a master's in biology in China is now bigger than the number of people with a master's in biology in the U.S.," Marc Cluzel (photo [2]), head of Sanofi's R&D, tells the Wall Street Journal. "The number of people with a Ph.D. in biology in the U.S. is still higher than in China, but it's getting closer and closer. And they are doing some good fundamental science."

- read the report [3] in the Wall Street Journal

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