CHICAGO - Some industrial leaders agreed that Asian countries like China and India have left increasing impacts on pharmaceutical industry at a symposium here Friday.

"One running theme of the changes I have witnessed is the increasing globalization of the industry. In particular, the increasing impact of China and India on both the supply side and demand side is striking. That is why our symposium is so timely," said honorary chairman Robert King, managing director for Healthcare Investments, Goldman Sachs.

The symposium, titled "Globalization of Innovation: China, India and USA Pharmaceutical Markets," was attended by leading biotechnology, medical device and pharmaceutical executives, researchers and service providers.

The gathering provided a setting to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry in China, India and the United States, and exchange best practices in life science and pharmaceutical industries.

Dr James Gillespie, co-chair of the symposium and also the president of Center for Healthcare Innovation, told Xinhua: "We want to bring together leading thinkers from the three most important counties in life science and pharmaceutical space. Right now the US is the largest market. There is no doubt that any experts and leaders in the field will agree China is looking forward to becoming future leader in a few years."

"Particularly the transactions across the three countries are just increasing in an enormous way. The industry is undergoing a huge transformation from the advanced Western nations to Asian counties like China and India," he said.

Gillespie said China as an emerging market is of further importance to the pharmaceutical industry and that its governmental system allows it to get more things done faster.

He noted that China's healthcare reform has a huge impact on life science industry as its rising middle classes will demand higher quality of health care system.

"This provides a huge opportunity for our industry. And we bring industrial leaders together to explore such opportunities," he added.

Anita Tang, symposium co-chair and managing director at Royal Roots Global Inc, said that "the three countries together take up to 45 percent of the global pharmaceutical market. To engage in dialogues and collaborations are of tremendous importance for China, India and the US. Players in the pharmaceutical industry are seeking collaborations worldwide to address the specific healthcare needs in different regions."

Such activities are evidenced by Dr. Liu Huaitian, director of field applications at BGI Americans, a leading biotech research institution based in Shenzhen, China.

BGI expanded its reach by establishing partnerships and collaborations with leading academic and governmental research institutions, as well as global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

"We have established relationship with 15 top pharmaceutical companies around the world, and we are trying to do so with more others," Liu told Xinhua.