Philippine News Agency | October 27, 2008

HANGZHOU, Zhejiang Province, China, Oct. 27 – Executives of a leading Chinese pharmaceutical company called on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Monday to express their desire to establish laboratories in the Philippines.

Officials of the Jiangsu Kanion Group (JKG) led by its vice president and chief executive officer (CEO) Yang Yin paid a courtesy call on the President at the Shangri-la Hotel here this morning, to convey their intention to invest in laboratory facilities in the country.

Yang told the President that they are eyeing a 10,000-hectare land in Davao del Sur as possible site for their planned laboratory where they will conduct tests on the viability of growing traditional Chinese herbs, the main ingredient of JKG medicines.

One of China's top pharmaceutical companies, JKG employs more than 2,000 workers and operates in more than 48 countries, including Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, the United States, and some parts of Europe.

The company’s main products are traditional Chinese herbal medicines such as herbal powder, herbal extracts and diet supplements.

The President welcomed JKG's plan to invest in the Philippines and assured Yang that the Philippine Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) would just be too willing to assist his company through the bureau’s herbal medicine license department.

She added that the government would assist JKG to get started with its plan to start planting medicinal herbs in Davao del Sur. (PNA)

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