Tongjitang Chinese Medicines Company (NYSE: TCM) reported that it is still considering the buyout offer from a JV comprised of its Chairman/CEO and Fosun Industrial, the Hong Kong conglomerate (see story). The JV offered $4.50 per ADS on April 8, 2010 for every share its members do not already own. Mr. Xiaochun Wang, Tongjitang’s Chairman and CEO, now has a 51% stake in the company and Fosun owns an additional 32%. Tongjitang is currently trading hands at around $3.50 per share, a 22% discount to the current offer.

GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) will purchase an additional 9% of the vaccine-focused JV it shares with Shenzhen Neptunus Interlong Bio-technique (HKEX: 8329) (see story). The price – $10.575 million – represents a 50% increase in valuation over the one established when the JV was formed last year. After the transaction, GSK will own 49% of the entity while Nep Interlong will hold the remaining 51%.

Shenzhen Accord Pharmaceutical (SHEX: 000028) will gain full control of Shenzhen Sinopharm Traditional Chinese Medicine (SHEX: 01099) by buying the 52.6% stake it doesn’t already own (see story). At 27 million RMB ($4 million), the acquisition is a relatively small one. Accord is buying the stake from industry giant Sinopharm.

China’s Ministry of Commerce approved the merger between Swiss biopharma Novartis (NYSE: NVS) and eye-products company Alcon (NYSE: ALC), though it did require CIBA VISION, a division of Novartis, to terminate its Sales and Distribution Agreement with HaiChang, one of the largest contact lens sellers in China, within the next 12 months (see story). The MoC said Novartis-Alcon together enjoy a 55% stake in the affected markets worldwide and a 60% share in China.

Jiangbo Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ: JGBO) has received approval from the Shandong Food and Drug Administration to start selling a treatment for high blood pressure, Felodipine sustained release tablets (see story). The company expects to sell $8 million to $12 million of the drug in the first 12 months at a 70% gross margin.

In the second half of 2009, Sinovac Biotech (NSDQ: SVA) was reporting blockbuster revenues because its flu vaccine sales went through the roof, as China faced the specter of a swine flu (H1N1) epidemic (see story). This year, things are different. The public is not being inundated with daily news reports of flu deaths or increasing numbers of flu cases. And there isn’t any ensuing rush on the part of the general public to inoculate themselves from a potentially lethal dose of flu. It's not surprising that the company's stock has sold lower.

Sinopharm Group (HKEX: 01099) will locate its antibiotic manufacturing center in Datong City, Shanxi province, at a facility it acquired as part of the purchase of Shandong Weiqida Pharma (see story). Sinopharm is also reorganizing Aurobindo (Datong) Biopharma and will presumably move its antibiotic production into the Weiqida plant.

Disclosure: none.