Carl Firth

Asia's Next Frontier: Building Capabilities for Translational Research

Tanisha Carino, Christiana Bardon, Carl Firth, Annalisa Jenkins, Baiju Shah, Chris Bardone

Faster Cures and Milken Institute convene Asian policymakers and industry leaders to address the critical "Valley of Death" separating basic science from clinical cures across the region's rapidly expanding R&D landscape. The discussion highlights Singapore's strategic shift toward translational funding and data infrastructure, China's accelerated regulatory reforms, and the Harrington Project's hybrid model designed to bridge skill and capital gaps for high-burden diseases. While genomic initiatives and reimbursement changes promise to modernize access, the session concludes that overcoming cultural barriers in patient advocacy and workforce specialization remains essential for translating scientific knowledge into effective patient treatments.