Deals and Financings

Livzon Pharma (SZ: 000513 HK: 01513) of Zuhai, China led a $25.5 million Series B funding of Cynvenio Biosystems, a Los Angeles area diagnostics company (see story). Cynvenio is developing LiquidBiopsy, a technology that performs genomic analyses of circulating tumor cells from whole blood. Last month, Livzon said it invested $10 million in Cynvenio's Series B and committed another $10 million to form a China JV with Cynvenio. Also participating in the B round was Greenwoods Private Equity Funds (Shanghai) and Syno Capital (New York), among others.

DelMar Pharma (OTC: DMPI), a Vancouver-Menlo Park drug developer with significant ties to China, announced plans to raise up to $8 million in a secondary offering (see story). Two weeks ago, the company reported positive data from an early-stage trial of VAL-083 in patients with gliobastoma multiforme. DelMar sources VAL-083 from Guangxi Wuzhou Pharma in China, where it is approved to treat leukemia and lung cancer. DelMar owns China rights to the drug for the glioblastoma multiforme indication.

Johnson & Johnson Innovation (NYSE: JNJ) and WuXi AppTec (NYSE: WX) announced they will form a collaborative China life science incubator (see story). The project will select novel life science projects, which the incubator will help to advance. It will establish "asset-centric" development companies for innovative products or services, and match experienced scientific entrepreneurs with the newly formed companies. 

Legal and IP Issues

China withdrew one of Gilead Sciences' (NSDQ: GILD) patents for Sovaldi, its very expensive (and very effective) treatment for hepatitis C (see story). Gilead charges $1,000 per Solvaldi pill ($84,000 for a twelve-week regimen). China rejected the patent on the Solvaldi prodrug, which becomes the chemically active drug in the patient's stomach. Gilead, however, continues to own IP on the active substance. In a similar case two years ago with Viread, an HIV treatment, Gilead released its patent to a pool, allowing generic copies, one year after it lost a patent fight, even though it still had other active patents. 

Trials and Approvals

UCB (EN: UCB), the Belgian biopharma, reported positive results from a China Phase III trial of its transdermal patch product, NEUPRO®, a treatment for early stage Parkinson's disease (see story). NEUPRO (rotigotine) is a dopamine agonist. In a double blind test, the product improved patients' ability to do routine daily tasks and their motor function scores compared to placebo. UCB expects to file for China approval this year; NEUPRO is already sold in the US, Europe and Japan. 

Company News

Shanghai Fosun Pharma (SHA: 600196; HK: 2196) has long followed an audacious business plan. In an interview with Bloomberg, Fosun's Chairman Qiyu Chen said the company expects to get 40% of its revenues from ex-China sources by 2020, up from 12% last year (see story). To get there, Fosun has adopted an entrepreneurial structure in its innovative drug subsidiaries, Chen said, giving management an ownership share, to keep costs low and productivity high. 

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) has begun construction of a $95 million production facility in Suzhou for consumer health products (see story). When finished, the facility will make Caltrate® dietary supplements and Centrum® multivitamins for China and other Asian markets. Other products will be added later. Pfizer also has plans to house an R&D facility on the site, which is home to another Pfizer plant that has been in operation for more than 20 years. 

Disclosure: none.