China's pharmaceutical industry is booming, and there are speculations that, given its aggressive growth, China's biotech industry is on its way to becoming a world player.

For their study, Singer and his colleagues selected 22 small- and medium-sized biotech firms from literally thousands operating in the health sector for close scrutiny. They looked for companies that were innovative, both scientifically and in business.

The portrait that emerged is of a dynamic sector that has been growing 30 percent annually over the past decade, reaching a turnover of three billion dollars in the domestic market in 2005.

The researchers also note that most of China's new biotech comanies are led by so-called "sea turtles" ("hai gui") - Chinese-born scientists who have been working in the US or Europe for many years and have come home to found Chinese companies.

See the full report here.