Parexel today announced the establishment of its health care consulting Health Advances subsidiary in Hong Kong, which will be led by Gary Cheng, who joins the company with more than 30 years of experience in the pharma, biotech, and medtech industries.
Cheng – who has worked at companies including Novartis, BD, Chiron Corporation, Alere, and Aventis – will lead the multilingual team, working closely with Vivek Mittal, a partner at Health Advances San Francisco office.
Mittal said the consultancy has been working in Asia/Pacific (APAC) for more than 20 years and the opening of the office "is a reflection of the region’s growing importance to the global health care industry."
"As more local companies seek to go global and more ex-APAC companies are looking to expand into the region, there is a need for deep market understanding and practical knowledge to develop differentiated and actionable commercial strategy. That is at the heart of the work that Health Advances conducts for companies across the health care industry," he told us.
According to the company, Health Advances is “a key component” of Parexel Biotech, which it launched in January 2019 to support emerging companies from development through commercialization.
Similar to Health Advances’ offices in Boston, San Francisco, and Europe, the APAC office will focus on helping health care address "their most pressing strategic questions," said Paula Ness Speers, Health Advances’ co-founder and managing director.
"Whether that is identifying the right clinical indication, developing a sound commercial plan, articulating a product’s value proposition, or conducting commercial diligence, our goal is to maximize the clinical and commercial success of healthcare products and services globally," she told us.
Health Advances consults on business strategy, providing scientific and clinical expertise. The addition of Health Advances Asia Limited increases Parexel’s presence in China to eight offices and more than 1,700 employees – and more than 8,000 in the greater Asia/Pacific region.
Parexel acquired Health Advances in January 2016.