A Survey of Biobank Business Planning in China

  Objective   This study aimed to gauge the current state of biobank business planning in China.

  Methods   We conducted a survey among the directors or main participants of 63 biobanks in China. The questionnaire had six categories, including basic information about the biobanks, business planning, utilization, users/customers, marketing/advertising, and cost recovery/performance measures. In this report, we presented a descriptive analysis of the responses in the survey.

  Results   In our survey, 96.8% (61/63)of the biobanks belonged to academic institutes or public hospitals; 19.0%(12/63) had business plans; 39.7%(25/63) had a business plan in progress; 41.3%(26/63) had no business plan. In 85.0%(34/40) of the biobanks, the actual utilization rate was less than 20%; and in 97.5%(39/40) of the biobanks, the actual utilization rate of their bio-specimen collections was generally lower than the targeted one. About 88.6%(1084/1223) samples were for internal use but not shared externally.

  Conclusions   According to the results of this survey, the situation of biobank business planning in China is not so optimistic. The actual utilization rates of most biobanks were generally lower than their goals, and the main problem was lack of sharing. Cooperation and sharing of domestic biobanks should be further strengthened.