CONTENTS Vol. 2 •␣ No. 18 •␣ 31 August 1998 Cover: Rice Field Photograph courtesy of Dr Wang Guo Liang (Institute of Molecular Agrobiology, Singapore) A. POLICIES & REGULATIONS F. GENERAL INFORMATION & STATISTICS 314China’s Pharmaceutical Industry: New Laws to Ensure Healthy Growth 322Drought Reduces Indonesia’s Rice Production Editor-in-Chief 314Changes in Grain Allocation 322Improved Grain Yield for China Chua Nam Hai 315China Hopes Neighbors Will support Rockefeller University Seasonal Fishing Bans 322A Six Per Cent Rise in HIV Rate in Hong Kong 315India Steps Up Industrial Pollution Editorial Board Members Monitoring and Control Policies 323Oman, India Will Build Urea Plant (In alphabetical order) Despite Fall in World Prices Ken-ichi Arai 323Singapore’s PPD Helps Out in The University of Tokyo, Japan B. MAJOR EVENTS National Education D Balasubramanian 316The Philippines: Eliminating Rice Crop Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, India 324The Current Global Market Constraints May Increase Yields P R Carnegie for Peanuts Murdoch University, Australia by 40% Lily Chan 324Chinese Need to Drink More Milk National University of Singapore C. RESEARCH NEWS Alex Chin G. OUTSTANDING ASIAN SCIENTISTS PT Japfa Comfeed, Indonesia 317Chinese Scientists Develop Advanced Fang Rong Xiang Gene-Cloning Technique 325Dr. Robert Tjian Institute of Microbiology, Beijing 317China Scientists Develop New Gong Zu-Xun Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry Anti-Pest Formula H. NEW PRODUCTS Walter Ho 318The BAC Fingerprint Physical Map of 327New Biodegradable Containers The Chinese University of Hong Kong the Rice Genome from China Low Fee Chon Rubber Research Institute Experimental Station 327China Promotes New Eco-Friendly Malaysia D. CHINESE MEDICINE Pesticide Lu Deru Institute of Medical Biotechnology & Mol. Genetics 319Bidrectional Regulation Activity of Shanghai Chinese Drugs I. NEWS IN BRIEF Hideo Ohkawa 328FDA Approves Wyeth’s Diarrhea Kobe University, Japan E. COMPANY NEWS Vaccine Arthur M Pappas A. M. Pappas & Associates 320Roche Aims to Make Top Three 328Japanese Drug Maker Plans to North Carolina Sell Melt-In-The-Mouth Motion 320Oxford Biomedica Gets a Boost Qu Dong Yu Sickness Pills Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 321SmithKline Beecham Builds New 328Dupont Buys Over Tongkook’s JCH Shih Horlicks Plant in Sonepat Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica, Taiwan Elastane Fiber Business Victor C Shi 321Shanghai Guanshengyuan Bought A. M. Pappas & Associates, Singapore Over By Tobacco Firm J. PATENTS Song Pill-Soon University of Nebraska-Lincoln 329Chinese Patents Kumho Life & Environmental Science Lab, Korea Enoch Y Park Shizuoka University, Japan K.CALENDAR OF EVENTS Tien Weichen Development Centre for Biotechnology, Taiwan Publisher kh-biotech.com.sg KH Biotech Services Pte Ltd 5 Toh Tuck Link http://www Singapore 596224 Tel: (65) 4665575 Fax: (65) 4677667 E-mail: [email protected] KH BIOTECH SERVICES PTE LTD MITA(P) No. 036/08/98 A Subsidiary of World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd Asia-Pacific Biotech News is published weekly by KH Biotech Services Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of APBN • Vol. 2 • No. 18 • 1998 313 Homepage World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd. MITA (P) No. 036/08/98. KH Biotech Services Pte Ltd 1998. http://www.kh-biotech.com.sg.