Hong Kong will need ‘proper strategy’ for integrating health data for biomedical hub ambitions, pharma giant GSK chair says
- Board chairman Jonathan Symonds says master plan for storing health data needed to help Hong Kong become life science ‘super connector’
- While Hong Kong can draw upon pool of life science knowledge in Greater Bay Area, strategy must link pieces together, he adds
Hong Kong will need a “proper strategy” for integrating health data to promote itself as a biomedical hub, the chairman of global pharma giant GSK has said, as he recognised the Greater Bay Area’s potential to create a data-led science ecosystem.
Jonathan Symonds, board chairman of the British-based group, on Wednesday said a master plan for storing health data should be drafted to help Hong Kong become a life science “super connector” between mainland China and the rest of the world.
“It is a proper strategy for integrated data, for both clinical application and diagnostic and research, and with tissue and blood banks that support it to be able to do functional genomics,” he said.
“The lifeblood of the future industry is going to be through the application of science to data, not the application of data to biology.”
Symonds was speaking at BIOHK 2023, a four-day biotechnology and life sciences conference held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. He is experienced in international finance, life sciences and governance, having previously served as the deputy group chairman of HSBC Holdings from 2018 to 2020.