Deals and Financings

Waterstone Pharmaceutical of Wuhan, China obtained global rights to a treatment for chronic viral infections from SCYNEXIS, a North Carolina anti-infectives company (see story). The drug, SCY-635, has completed a Phase II trial in patients with hepatitis C. Waterstone, which describes itself as an international company with its main operations in China, develops novel drugs for liver and gastrointestinal diseases. The company is backed by well-known investors including BAR Capital, CID Group, OrbiMed and Acorn Camps. 

Shenzhen Hepalink Pharma (SHE: 002399), a heparin API company, will invest $22 million in the TPG Biotechnology Partners IV fund (see story). TPG (formerly Texas Pacific Group) is a global venture capital company that invests in all types of life sciences companies at all stages of their development. The firm says it has made $1 billion of investments in 50 life science companies since 2002. 

China's UniTao Pharma bought an about-to-idled Boehringer Ingelheim API plant in Virginia for an undisclosed sum, and the company will spend $22.5 million on the facility to make improvements (see story). BI was going to close the plant by the end of 2014, laying off 240 employees. UniTao has promised to hire 376 people to staff its operations, though the BI employees will have to apply for their old jobs. UniTao is a subsidiary of Shanghai Tenry Pharmaceutical. 

Bayer AG (XETRA: BAYN) closed its $589 million acquisition of China's Dihon Pharmaceutical Group, a privately held healthcare products company (see story). Dihon specializes in OTC dermatology products and TCM products for women’s health. The deal was originally announced in February. Bayer is an active M&A player in OTC healthcare: last month, Bayer completed its $14.2 billion acquisition of Merck's (NYSE: MRK) global healthcare products business. 

Industry Insight

Change and growth are the watchwords for China's life science industry: both seem inevitable. But for an individual company the question becomes "How do you capitalize on change to maximize growth?" To consider that question, 150 senior life science executives came together at the recent ChinaBio® Leadership Retreat in Changshu (see story). In his keynote presentation, Greg Scott, Founder of ChinaBio®, told the Forum attendees that 2014 is on track to break records in several investment areas, most notably the extremely strong sector of biologics cross-border partnerships. BioWorld Asia was there to cover the conversation, and they have graciously allowed ChinaBio® Today to reprint their report. 

Featured Companies

Last week, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) announced the opening of an Asia Pacific Innovation Center in Shanghai (see story). The center is the company's fourth such facility around the globe, formed to increase J&J's presence in early innovation by working with partners. BioCentury talked to J&J about its program and how the Shanghai center will differ from the other three. It also found out that J&J has already signed six deals with Asia Pacific partners, four of them in China. We reprinted BioCentury's article in full with their permission.

Company News

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG) will invest $466 million to build a China manufacturing facility in Suzhou that will make diagnostic tests intended for China and other Asia Pacific countries (see story). Specifically, the plant will make immunochemistry and clinical chemistry tests, which are used in clinical laboratory testing. When fully operational, the plant will employ over 600 workers. The Suzhou facility will be the first manufacturing plant for Roche Diagnostics in China. 

Daewoong Pharma (KRX: 069620), Korea's largest drugmaker, has opened a laboratory in Liaoning that is tasked with working 24/7 to develop oral solutions and solid drugs for China (see story). The lab is part of Liaoning Baifeng, a small China pharma that Daewoong acquired last year. Daewoong has also established corporate offices in Beijing. The company's goal is to achieve $463 million of China revenues in 2020, which it hopes to accomplish through active partnering with local pharmas and academic institutions. 

Trials and Approvals

STAAR Surgical (NSDQ: STAA), a California maker of implantable eye lenses, received China marketing approval for its latest lens: the Visian ICL with CentraFLOW® technology (see story). The lens includes a port in the center of the ICL optic that facilitates the flow of fluid within the eye without affecting the quality of vision. STAAR, which has been marketing the predecessor product in China since 2006, positions its Visian ICL devices as alternatives to LASIK surgery and notes that China is the world's second largest market for LASIK procedures. 

Disclosure: none.