The Filter returns after a short hiatus wherein your author found himself marveling at the biodiversity of the Puerto Rican rainforest one week, and networking at the Puerto Rico Bio Alliance booth at BIO 2011 the next. Without further ado, here’s your weekend catch-up reading.

• • Bloomberg Businessweek profiles two bioentrepreneurs’ efforts to turn startup BeiGene into the Genentech of China.
• • Speaking at the aforementioned BIO 2011 convention last week in Washington, industry maven Steve Burrill talked up the biotech efforts of developing countries. In addition to the BRICs, now we can add the CIVET countries (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt and Turkey) as “sources of increased international competition for innovation, markets, and capital,” says the Patent Docs blawg.
• • And speaking of Colombia, the home of 10% of the world’s biodiversity hopes to commercialize its resources by financing biotech research, according to SciDevNet.

Please add your thoughts in the comments.

Michael Francisco