Burrill & Company (B&C), a global financial services firm focused on the life sciences industry, is increasingly focusing in the APAC region helping bioscience firms with capital, transactional support, management expertise, insight, market intelligence, and analysis. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company has a global network of offices in the US, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

Dr Tania Fernandez, director, Burrill & Company, and the India editor of the Burrill Report speaks to BioSpectrum regarding the company's recent achievements, ongoing projects and future plans.

Tell us about the various strategic partnerships, M&A transactions and financings, that were assisted by B&C in the APAC region?

Dr Fernandez: B&C prides itself on having carved a unique niche amongst life science investors. We have a broad global outlook and though our portfolio largely resides in the US we have been very active in several countries outside the US, including Malaysia, Russia, Taiwan, China, India, Korea, Middle East, Brazil and Japan.

One of our first forays into the Pan Asia region was in 2006 with the formation of the Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund, which is a life sciences venture fund specializing in early stage investments in agriculture, industrial and healthcare biotechnology. It is co-managed by Burrill & Company and the Malaysian Technology Development Corporation, and has $150 million in committed capital. We are also in the process of raising a Burrill Pan Asia Fund.