Bloomberg BusinessWeek, May 15, 2017 (I)

choi

(1) Li Hui and Jing Yang de Morel, Can China Make Hainan a Medical Paradise?
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/a ... cal-tourism-hotspot

Quote:

"Some of China's wealthy pack a suitcase before heading off to a medical appointment. Seeking everything from routine physicals in Japan to complex genetic therapies in the US, about half a million traveled abroad last year for medical services, estimates Ctrip.com International Ltd 携程, a travel site.
medical

"To lure wealthy Chinese patients, the government is making an unusual promise: The special zone will offer advanced treatments from other countries such as cancer drugs that aren't approved for use in the rest of China.  The could be an irresitable pitch at a time when millions in China are dying from cancer and heart disease each year and regulatory bottlenecks delay approvals for the latest international therapies.  An example of the health zone's potential came last October, when the new Chengmei International Health Center imported 24 vials of the Merck & Co cancer drug Keytruda under special-access rules for six patients, according to the government. The medicine is approved in the US and elsewhere but isn't available in mainland China. Under the program, the medicines that China allows in the Hainan hub can be imported only in small quantities and must be used on-site.

"On a recent visit . the Hainan Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone 海南博鳌乐城国际医疗旅游先行区 still had the feel of an underdeveloped backwater. It is dotted with semi-finished hospitals without medical equipment. Prefabricated homes for construction workers are scattered across the zone. Five facilities begun accepting patients on a trial basis at the end of March, local officials say.

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Patients are wooed with drugs not available elsewhere in the country
(b) The online version is substantially revised for print. The quotations are from print.
(c)
(i) Keytruda is a monoclonal antibody against PD-1 (full name: Programmed cell death protein 1; also known as CD 279 (full name: cluster of differentiation 279)l the latter is a protein on the surface T lymphocutes. It is asserted that cells of some cancers express a protein on their surface which bill bind PD-1 like a ligand and receptor ( or in laymen’s terms: a key and lock). Once that happens, PD-1 inhibits T lymphocytes fight with these cancers. This is one of the hottest concepts in cancer treatment.
(ii) I am unaware whether this kind of immunotherapy against cancers have succeeded in humans. (I read summaries of clinical trials, and am doubtful.) However, there is no evidence in basic science to support the hypothesis. Firstly, function of PD-1 is unclear. To say that it inhibits T lymphocytes fight against cancer. The preconditions must be T lymphocytes can tell cancer cells from normal cells, and then fight the former only. Neither is proved.

(2) Bruce Einhorn and Dong Lyu, China -- with Western Help -- Finds Its Wings.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/a ... d-by-u-s-technology
("China's approach is almost the opposite of the strategy followed by Japan in the 1980s, when its aerospace companies eschewed development of the entire aircraft in favor of becoming system suppliers to Boeing and more recently Airbus. Today, Japanese suppliers make as much as percent of the Boeing 787's airframe")

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print:  Its homemade C919 jet relies heavily on foreign suppliers
(b) There is no need to read the rest of this report.

(3) Lance Lambert, MBA Programs Tout Entrepreneurship.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/a ... ng-entrepreneurship

Quote:

"Attributes that typify a great entrepreneur can make for a lousy hire, says Derick Kurdy, who works for Johnson & Johnson's procurement team in New Jersey. * * * 'A lot of entrepreneurs don’t like to be told what to do,' he says. They get bored easily and don't always mesh well with corporate culture. In a large organization, he says, 'sometimes you just have to do what's asked of you.'

"Most MBA graduates go to work for big companies in consulting, finance, technology, and consumer products. Of the 118 international and US MBA programs ranked by Bloomberg in 2016, the median school had only 3 percent of its graduates starting businesses. Stanford had one of the highest rates, at 16 percent. 'It's a really costly way to go start a business,' says J&J's Kurdy, given tuition and fees at the top-ranked schools.

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Students want skills that define self-starters; employers don't
(b) The print is identical to the online version.