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Week in Review: China to Add 300 Drugs to National Reimbursement Drug List

publication date: Feb 4, 2017
 | 
author/source: Richard Daverman, PhD

Government and Regulatory

According to sources, China is getting close to announcing a revised National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL), the group of drugs covered by China's national insurance plan (see story). There will be 300 additions, 130 of which will be chemical drugs. The rest will be traditional Chinese medicines. This is the first update of the NRDL since 2009. Last May, China negotiated steep price cuts on several breakthrough drugs, and these still-expensive treatments are expected to become part of the new list. These include Viread from GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK); Iressa from AstraZeneca (NYSE: GSK); and Icotinib from Zhejiang Beta Pharma. 

Deals and Financings

Vincent Medical Holdings (HK: 1612) of Hong Kong made a $3 million investment into Israel's Inovytec Medical Solutions, a company that makes medical devices for emergency medicine and trauma care (see story). Vincent will own 15% of Inovytec and also gain rights to manufacture and distribute Inovytec's three medical devices in greater China. Inovytec's products address emergency needs for airway management, oxygen therapy and defibrillation. Vincent Medical, also a medical device company, claims to be the second largest exporter of respiratory and anesthesia disposables in China. 

Company News

SynTheAll (STA) Pharma, WuXi AppTec's small-molecule process development and manufacturing subsidiary, announced plans to expand its one-year-old Changzhou campus (see story). In the short term, STA will raise its headcount to 300 scientists from 200 and increase reactor volume from 290 cubic meters to 490 cubic meters. Eventually, STA expects the site will be home to 500 scientists and offer 1,500 cubic meters of reactor volume. In 2014, WuXi sold 11% of STA to management and outside investors, listing the company on China's OTC exchange, NEEQ. The funding valued STA at $1.3 billion. 

French medical device maker Vexim (EPA: ALVXM) contracted with an unnamed China lab to begin China registration studies for its vertebral fracture repair device, SpineJack® (see story). Vexim recently was granted patents for the device in China and Japan. SpineJack is an implant designed to repair a fractured vertebra and restore spinal cord balance. The 30 minute procedure is useful in 95% of vertebral fractures, according to Vexim. SpineJack was CE marked for EU use in 2010 and now is indicated for trauma and other vertebral fractures. 

Trials and Approvals

FibroGen (NSDQ: FGEN), a US-China novel drug company, reported positive results from two China Phase III trials of roxadustat, a treatment for anemia (see story). Roxadustat is a first-in-class, oral small molecule treatment for anemia in chronic kidney disease. In 2013, FibroGen formed a 50/50 joint venture with AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) to develop roxadustat in China. AstraZeneca paid $28.2 million upfront and agreed to a total of $328.5 million in milestones. FibroGen will manufacture the drug in China through its China subsidiary, while AstraZeneca will be in charge of commercialization.

Disclosure: none.


 

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