2008-05-26 15:06:01 -
Arabia has all the right ingredients to become a global healthcare provider, according to Dr Karl Groth, a director of the General Partner and co-founder of Ascent Medical Technology Funds.
Regional Healthcare to account for 25% of GNP by 2020; Middle East can surpass India and China in medical product quality
Medical innovation veterans, Peggy Farley and Dr Karl Groth, excel at Middle East Healthcare Expansion
www.ascentcompanies.com
Dubai, May 2008:
Dr Groth, a long-time promoter of medical innovation, said that healthcare accounts for less than 10 percent of total GNP (Gross National Product) in the region and would increase to 25 percent within the next ten years.
Echoing his sentiments co-director, Peggy Farley, said: 'Globally nearly 65 percent of all medical equipment components are outsourced at some level.
'There is increasing competition among medical firms in India and China, providing low cost alternatives.
'However Arabia has the right ingredients to
rival any region in quality medical manufacturing, business practices and forward-thinking environmental strategies.'
She said that recent global medical manufacturing research indicates that the percentage of finished goodzs outsourced is projected to double from 14 percent to 27 percent between 2008 and 2010[1].
Dr Groth further explained that the medical technology manufacturing sector requires a highly-trained and educated work force.
'Enhancing innovation in healthcare will create knock-on effects in jobs, increase wealth and improve the overall health of the population,' he said.
'The wealth of the Middle East is not solely its oil and gas; its more important wealth is the capability of its people, especially in science and technology,' Dr Groth added.
Dr Groth and Farley have launched two medical funds, including a region-centric channel. They are also behind the establishment of a manufacturing unit for medical supplies in Oman and a state-of-the art research unit in Jordan.
The Amman-based research centre is set to be the only healthcare product development hub worldwide that can provide preclinical evaluation, full-service clinical research, core lab facilities, as well as cell engineering and culturing.
(Ends)
News Bites:
Peggy Farley and Dr Karl Groth recently presented at The Middle East Healthcare Expansion, Business Lunch Series on May 13, 2008 at Dubai's Al Murooj Rotana Hotel & Suites. The event focused on the fundamentals of the industry, as well as giving upper-level decision makers the chance to discuss the hottest issues of the day and obtain solutions for the latest development and expansion programmes.
Ascent Medical Technology Fund, LP is the first of two funds dedicated to funding innovative medical device and life science companies launched by Ascent. Fund II L.P, established in 2007. It is committed to advancing medical innovation to create dramatic changes in the treatment of serious global health issues.
The 2007 joint venture between Ascent and the Salalah Medical Supplies Manufacturing Company (SMSMCo) of Oman saw the birth of the Salalah Medical Device Manufacturing Co Inc., a guide wire products and surgical kits manufacturer.
Meanwhile, Ascent's presence in Jordon sees the recent launch of a world-first in the Philadelphia Biological and Medical Product Development Centre, the only healthcare product development hub worldwide that will provide preclinical evaluation, full-service clinical research, core lab facilities, as well as cell engineering and culturing.
For more details visit: www.ascentcompanies.com
For media enquiries:
Susan Furness, Strategic Solutions for Ascent
Tel: +9714 3903033, Mobile: +97150 6556126
Anu Bhatnagar, Strategic Solutions for Ascent
Tel.: +9714 3903018, Mobile: + 97150 7286803
Editor's notes:
The Ascent Group comprises companies that provide public capital market and private equity market products and services to institutions and high net worth individuals. Ascent Medical Technology Fund, LP is the first of the funds dedicated to funding innovative medical device and life science companies launched by Ascent.
Peggy A. Farley is a Managing Director of the General Partner and co-founder of the Ascent Medical Technology Funds. As well, she is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ascent Capital Management, Inc. Karl Groth; Ph.D. is a co-founder of the Ascent Medical Technology Funds and is President and CEO of the General Partner.
Dr. Karl Groth and Peggy Farley have a long history of working together to fund innovation.
The Ascent Medical Technology Fund II, L.P. (the Fund) was established in year 2007. The Fund is dedicated to advancing medical innovation through investing in early-commercialization stage companies based in the U.S. and the Middle East that have technologies sufficiently innovative to effect dramatic changes in the treatment of serious global health issues such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. The Fund has as a condition for investment the establishment or development by the company in which it invests, whether domiciled in the US or in the Middle East, a sustainable business in the Middle East (manufacturing facility, lab, clinical research organization, etc.) that will itself seed the emergence of a locus of medical technology activity in the Region to enable the Region to eventually compete with the U.S.
Ascent Medical Product Development Centre is the first of its kind medical centre in Jordan & is managed by the newly established company Philadelphia Biological and Medical Product Development Centre Company, PSC. It is a private shareholding company owned by the Ascent Medical Product Development Centre Inc.
The centre is one of the main four medical innovations launched by Ascent through the initial investments of the Ascent Medical Technology Fund II. Bioheart, Inc., a leader in the realm of cell therapy for heart disease, Heartland Biosciences International, a life science company and Contract Manufacturing Facility for technologically sophisticated products are other three major projects established worldwide under this fund.
[1] Ascent Technologies
