"It's in the national interest"

It's no secret that Beijing's primary objective for the Olympics is to show the world how far it has come. However, the country's efforts to present a "perfect" event ironically highlight exactly what continues to hold China back -- a systemic focus on appearances over substance. The opening ceremonies offered an interesting example. The organizers wanted a child to sing "Ode to the Motherland," but while 7-year-old Yang Peiyi was judged to have the best voice, she did not have the best looks, so they had 9-year-old Lin Miaoke lip sync the song. "The audience will understand that it's in the national interest," said Politburo member Chen Qigang, expressing the delusion, common to the totalitarian mindset, of complete control of perception. Apparently the fireworks weren't good enough for the Politburo, either, according to the same piece:

The news follows reports that some footage of the fireworks exploding across China's capital during the ceremony was digitally inserted into television coverage, apparently over concerns that not all of the 29 blasts could be captured on camera.

As a friend of mine who sent me the piece observed, the philosophy of development in China seems to be "just look the part". He added: "This is evident every time you hear about lead poisoning, food poisoning, water poisoning etc. They even think they can get away with mimicking drugs because one chemical *appears* to have properties like another completely different chemical."

The problem is fundamentally one of leadership. Until the Politburo rewards substantial value and rejects mere appearance, "made in China" will continue to inspire suspicion.

Drug shortage in India?

According to the Indian Drug Manufacturers Assoc., Olympics-related shutdowns of key raw materials suppliers in India are going to mean drug shortages in India in the next few months. Says DNA India:

India imports as much as 80% of its pharma raw material requirement, including APIs, from China because it is 10-40% cheaper, said Swati A Piramal, director, Piramal Healthcare.

Shinde says the shortage is not being felt today because medical stores are coping with pre-clampdown inventories.

“But after September, the shocks will be felt everywhere. The current stock will be consumed by then.

People will find it difficult to source drugs they would desperately want,” Shinde warns.

Domestic manufacturers are hurting, too, because shortage is spiking raw material prices and price control has become a bigger headwind.

“After the clampdown, prices of raw material have risen by 30-50%,” Piramal said. About 40-60% of the total costs of a pharma company is accounted for by raw material.

Indian manufacturers blame price controls in the country for driving them to outsource so much raw material manufacture in China, although it's hard to imagine why they wouldn't go to the cheapest source even absent the price controls.

Tapan Ray, director general of Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), says companies have primarily been sourcing raw material from China because the low cost offsets the price control in India.

Up-and-coming Chinese CROs

Seeking Alpha today notes an interesting development that highlights two up-and-coming Shanghai CROs. Morningside Venture, Lilly Asian Ventures and Pfizer Venture Investments have all put their money behind the Shanghai-based, bio-focused CRO HD Biosciences Inc. HD seems to have a close relationship with Sundia, another Shanghai-based CRO that focuses on drug discovery chemistry. The two announced a service alliance with Novasecta in February, and with United PharmaTech in 2007.

Lonza's new engineering business

Lonza is starting up a new engineering business that will focus on China. It'll offer engineering, design and maintenance. Quite an interesting way of embedding the company in an expanding market and supplier base. Lonza will raise the production standards of any company they work with. They'll know exactly how the Chinese customer does business, and whether they'd make a good partner (or even acquisition...) for the Swiss fine chemicals leader. It'll be interesting to see how widely the service is engaged. Considering Lonza's reputation, compared with that of Chinese producers, I would think that the main limiting factor will be the price tag. Being able to point to a relationship with Lonza should be a valuable selling point for Chinese companies looking for business in abroad, particularly in the West & Japan.

“This new business unit is a very logical expansion of our existing strengths in manufacturing of complex products. We have built chemical and biotech plants around the world, at very high levels of quality and regulatory compliance,” remarked Lukas Utiger, Head of Life Science Ingredients. “We have built strong project management and maintenance experience in China since the mid 1990’s for the construction and maintenance of cGMP and Food GMP plants which have been certified by global regulators. Our talented and highly qualified staff of 130 technical experts has a strong drive to capitalize on this new business opportunity.”

Oh, that's where the food went.

Earlier I wrote about a report on NPR radio that tried to show the superiority of Britain's National Health Service to the US system of healthcare. The NPR piece offered a flimsy argument based on the experiences of one patient in the UK and one in the US. Within a few days, an article in the Daily Mail detailing how 30,000 patients had been left "starving" on NHS wards showed how foolish NPR's piece was.

Today I encountered another item from the UK in the same vein. Check this out:

Figures released by the Conservatives show that 70% of NHS Trusts brought in pest controllers at least 50 times between January 2006 and March 2008.

Vermin were found in wards, clinics and even operating theatres. A patients' group said the situation was revolting....

One had wasps in a neo-natal unit, and flying ants on the main wards, while another reported rats in their maternity unit, and wasps in operating theatres.

A children's A&E was infested with flies, and main wards were also home to mice, silverfish, biting insects and beetles.

Other common problems included bedbugs, fleas and cockroaches.

Apparently the bugs aren't starving.

The US "system" has problems, but I don't believe you'll ever have to worry that your newborn might be stung by a wasp, or that you'll wake up to find a roach checking you out. Again I wonder, where does NPR get off foisting such garbage on its listeners? -- and why do NPR's listeners think of themselves so highly for swallowing it?

Don't you know I'm loco?

I'm inclined to regard people like these bomb-throwing animal rights fanatics as mentally ill. They suffer a tunnel-vision so complete that they don't recognize other human beings, only the need to satisfy their compulsion.

The Yellow Mouse Orchestra

For fans of Pikachu


Via Pink Tentacle