Industry Analysis

China life science set new records in 2010 in every metric: VC investments, IPOs, M&A activity, partnerships, patents and government funding (see story). The numbers, gathered by ChinaBio®’s proprietary research, are contained in “China Life Science 2010: A Great Leap Forward.” Here are some of the results, all of them “best-evers”: investment in China life science exceeded $1 billion US for the first time; the year saw the first venture capital investment in China to top $100 million US; a record 33 life science IPOs raised nearly $6 billion; M&A activity rose 8-fold to $3.4 billion US, and much more.

Transactions

China NT Pharma Group (HK: 01011) expects to price a $275 million IPO in Hong Kong on April 13, with trading beginning one week later (see story). NT Pharma distributes and provides marketing support for vaccines in China. The company also makes APIs and finished drugs, specializing in psychotropic and cardiovascular drugs along with antibiotics.

China Medical System Holdings (HK: 867) will pay almost $200 million to acquire Tianjin Precede Medical Trade Development Co., a fellow drug distributor in China (see story). CMS said the transaction will give it new products to sell and a larger sales network. CMS is following the well-trodden path of IPOing on the Hong Kong exchange and using the proceeds to continue the steady rollup of China’s pharma distribution networks.

Ascletis, Inc., a US-China biopharma startup, announced a huge $100 million Series A round, led by Hangzhou Binjiang Investment Holding (see story). Initially, Ascletis will in-license promising clinical-stage western molecules for cancer and infectious diseases, which it will take to China for development and sale there. To get its business moving quickly – the company hopes to have a drug on the market in three to five years – Ascletis is focusing on projects that are already in clinical stage in the west.

In an exclusive interview with ChinaBio® Today, Jinxi Wu, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder of Acletis said his company is well-situated to succeed (see story). Plus, it already has support in place to make the $100 million go further. “We have grants from [Hangzhou Hi-Tech Park] and local government. They pay a percentage of R&D expenses with a cap. We expect to get similar grants from provincial and national governments,” he said.

Jilin Aodong Medicine Industry Group (吉林敖東藥業集團股份有限公) (SHE: 000623) will make a small $2 million investment into Vital Therapies, a San Diego company that is developing a medical device for patients with liver failure (see story). The initial $2 million investment will purchase about a 5% stake in Vital Therapies. If Vital Therapies obtains SFDA approval for its device in the next six months, Aodong will invest an additional $25 million in Vital Therapies.

Distribution Partnerships

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has agreed to co-promote a hypertension drug from Daiichi Sankyo Pharma (TSE: 4568) in China (see story). The two companies will cooperate on selling olmesartan medoxomil, known as Benicar in the US and Olmetec in the EU and Canada. It is a member of the angiotensin II receptor antagonist class of drugs, which has a very large potential market in China.

Study Opportunities

Through a partnership with Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences, ChinaBio® now offers KGI students the opportunity to spend their summer internship in China under the new ChinaBio® Life Sciences Summer Work-Study Program in Shanghai (see story). ChinaBio® LLC will host a maximum of 6-8 students this summer in their Shanghai office. The program also will be open to students from other universities and early-career professionals in the life sciences and other fields.


Disclosure: none.