Thai center to drive Apec life sciences growth

PHUKET: Thailand and private US interests have agreed to establish a Center of Excellence for the Life Sciences in Thailand that will lead growing interest in the topic throughout the region, a ground-breaking Apec conference has been told. The announcement came from Deputy Prime Minister Suwit Khunkitti in the lead-up to the opening of the first Life Sciences Innovation Forum, being held today and tomorrow at Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort. While he gave no details of the arrangements for establishing the center, the concept and other aspects of life sciences attracted the attention of health ministers and officials with medical or scientific interests from among the 21 economies that are members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation grouping. K. Suwit told the forum in his opening address, “Healthy workers contribute to a healthy economy,” and added that investing in life sciences “will improve our capabilities in monitoring and halting the spread of diseases at an early stage. “I propose that Apec think about promoting collaborative research, particularly on emerging diseases such as Sars, or on other communicable diseases such as drug-resistant malaria or West Nile virus [a relative of dengue fever and yellow fever],” he said. The forum aims to produce strategies and recommendations to be considered when Apec leaders gather later this year.