EYS will turn the facility into a TCM production plant, which includes the establishment of its first TCM Fingerprinting Centre in Hong Kong. EYS plans a phased customisation of the existing premises into a 130,000 square foot Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certified TCM facility to house its research and development and manufacturing operations. The first phase of the new plant, which will be completed in mid 2006, will engage in the manufacturing of various dosage form products, in pills, powder and capsule.

The investment by EYS, a highly regarded TCM company with a rich heritage in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, further enhances Hong Kong's role as a growing centre for TCM development, spurred on by CEPA.

"Eu Yan Sang's move into the Yuen Long Industrial Park is a natural progression of our ongoing initiative to advance modernisation of the TCM sector through science, innovation, standardisation and quality assurance of manufacturing procedures," said Mr. Richard Eu, Group Chief Executive Officer, Eu Yan Sang Group. "Authenticity and consistency are two major consumer concerns that have been impeding the development of the TCM industry. By establishing a state-of-the-art scientific quality assurance facility in Hong Kong, we are hoping to increase the general reception of TCM, while at the same time helping Hong Kong affirm its position as a quality leader in the industry worldwide." He added that such initiatives to leverage on technology and standardisation of TCM is also to open doors into the western markets.

EYS intends to build an Asian R&D, quality assurance and logistics centre for its global TCM business operations, including a large-scale TCM Fingerprinting Centre to facilitate scientific inspection of common Chinese herbs and all of EYS' own proprietary Chinese medicines. EYS will bring to the Centre an archive of fingerprints of about 300 types of Chinese herbs developed over the past three years. EYS will also direct all shipments of procured TCM to Hong Kong for quality assessments to ensure authenticity and quality standardisation and to meet international quality assurance standards.

As most of TCM is herbal plants, or formulations of herbal plant extracts, consisting of many biological compounds, the genetic makeup of a herbal species varies from grower to grower and crop to crop, and is significantly affected by storage conditions, harvest and post-harvest processes.

Chromatographic fingerprints are used to identify the origin, species, harvesting, processing and place of cultivation of the herbal drug. Fingerprints are also used as reference standards enabling the identification of authenticity, purity, quality and toxicity of herbal drugs, in particular after processing.

The new TCM facility is strategically located in Yuen Long, which leverages Hong Kong's logistic expertise and infrastructure and proximity to China. The relocation is in step with EYS' mid-term plan to expand further into China taking advantage of the lower barriers to entry from CEPA. The new facility also has the capacity to accommodate a higher extent of vertical integration in manufacturing over the long term.

"By building a totally customised and scalable platform on the existing infrastructure in Yuen Long, EYS will be able to further nurture professional Chinese herbalists. We are in discussion with several universities to extend our ongoing academic-industry collaboration into long-term student research and internship programmes," said Ms Alice Wong, Managing Director, Eu Yan Sang (Hong Kong) Limited.

EYS anticipates growth momentum of TCM products to remain strong in Asia as the population ages and people increasingly favour the holistic concept of TCM for healthy and balanced living.

"Recently the trend in TCM has been for Chinese companies to move into Hong Kong as a first step for moving into the global market. Eu Yan Sang has a different approach as a Singaporean company that will not only use the Hong Kong facility to expand globally but as a means to more easily grow its business in the largest market for TCM, China," said Mr. C D Tam, CEO of HKSTP. "Our Yuen Long and Tai Po Industrial Parks already have a number of pharmaceutical companies, we believe that the addition of EYS will help create an even more dynamic pharmaceutical group."

The newly opened Bio-Informatics Centre at the Hong Kong Science Park will help speed up the development of Hong Kong's biotechnology cluster by providing shared facilities for companies conducting research in bioinformatics, TCM, DNA research, genomics, proteomics, pharmaceuticals and vaccines as well as in functional foods, biomedical instruments, medical diagnostics and devices.

"Biotechnology is the fourth technology cluster that HKSTP pursues and we have expanded the definition of biotech to include TCM. In the past 12 months, we have brought several highly recognised TCM manufacturers to Hong Kong to conduct R&D and production. We are moving quickly to establish Hong Kong as the hub for TCM," said Mr. Tam.

Hong Kong is competitively poised to develop biotechnology with world-class infrastructure offering an ideal blend of Western and Chinese medicinal heritages, comprehensive intellectual property protection and a close connection with worldwide capital markets. Additionally, research conducted by local universities has received recognition in international biomedical journals and the biotechnology mini-white paper commissioned by HKSTP.

About the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) is a statutory body set up by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Its mission is to provide quality infrastructure and support facilities for innovation and technology development in the focused clusters* and the upgrading of manufacturing and service industry capabilities; full-service incubation programme for technology start-ups; and foster partnership and collaboration between industry and universities/applied research institutes through consulting, training and research programmes.

*Focused clusters encompass electronics, biotechnology, precision engineering and information technology/telecommunications industries.

More information about HKSTP is available at www.hkstp.org.

About Eu Yan Sang Group
Eu Yan Sang Group is a leading consumer healthcare company that manufactures and markets fine quality, traditional Chinese herbs and medicines under the brand name of Eu Yan Sang. Established as a household name in Asia for over 125 years, Eu Yan Sang has earned itself an unrivalled reputation as the leader in the TCM industry. Manufacturing activities are carried out in its own Hong Kong factory, which was accredited under both Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) by the Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia and ISO9001:2000 by Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency. It produces a wide range of powder, pill and capsule healthcare products, including its flagship products, Bak Foong Pills and Bo Ying Compound.

More information about Eu Yan Sang is available at www.euyansang.com.

Issued by :
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation
Angela Lo
Tel: (852) 2629 6890

Eu Yan Sang (Hong Kong) Limited
Ella Lee Tel: (852) 2544 3268

Through:
t6.communications limited
Jenny Lee
tel: 2511 8388 / fax: 2511 8238
email: enquiry-at-t6pr.com (use "@" to replace "-at-")
url : http://www.t6pr.com