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Week in Review: Dalian Wanda Plans $10 Billion Chengdu Healthcare Park

publication date: Apr 15, 2017
 | 
author/source: Richard Daverman, PhD

Deals and Financings

Dalian Wanda Group, China's largest commercial property owner, unveiled plans to invest $10 billion in a Chengdu healthcare park (see story). Plans call for the park to include two tier-one general hospitals, eight smaller specialized hospitals and 30 healthcare-related firms. Last year, Wanda made its first foray into healthcare, investing $2.3 billion to build three China hospitals, one each in Shanghai, Chengdu and Qingdao. The company enlisted Britain's International Hospitals Group (IHG) to run its initial hospital properties, but its plans for the latest facilities are not known. 

Aslan Pharma, a Singapore company developing novel oncology therapies, told Bloomberg News that it expects to raise $40 million in a Taiwan IPO planned for May (see story). The company will float about 10% of its shares, implying a $400 million valuation. So far, Aslan has raised over $100 in venture capital, a number that includes a $23 million funding last year in a pre-IPO round. In February, Aslan reported positive results from a Phase II trial of its lead drug, varlitinib, as a second-line therapy for patients with HER-positive breast cancer. 

Tahoe Investment Group (formerly known as Fujian Thai Hot) is offering $75 million to privatize Alliance HealthCare (NSDQ: AIQ), a US provider of outsourced radiology, oncology and interventional services (see story). One year ago, Tahoe paid $102.5 million for a majority 51.5% stake in Alliance. At the time of its original Alliance acquisition, Tahoe said its goal was to expand Alliance's services into China. In December 2016, Tahoe offered $54 million to purchase the remaining shares, but has now upped its bid to $75 million, a 69% premium over December's pre-offer stock price. 

Beijing's BeiGene (NSDQ: BGNE) will collaborate with Myriad Genetics (NSDQ: MYGN) to develop a companion diagnostic to BeiGene's novel PARP inhibitor, BGB-290 (see story). BeiGene will use two of Myriad's diagnostic tests, myChoice® HRD and BRACAnalysis CDx®, to identify patients most likely to benefit from BRB-290. In 2016, BeiGene started a dose escalation Phase Ia trial of the candidate in Australia. China and the US have also approved Phase I trials of the drug. The companies did not release further terms of the agreement. 

China's Ministry of Commerce approved the $43 billion takeover of Switzerland's Syngenta by ChemChina, a state-owned company (see story). The transaction is the largest acquisition of a foreign entity in any sector by a China company. Its MOFCOM approval shows that China is ready to allow large amounts of China capital to move overseas, given the right opportunity. Syngenta produces agrochemicals and seeds, and its biotech division conducts genomic research. ChemChina is a specialty chemical company with a major focus in agrochemicals. 

Phagelux will collaborate with Johnson and Johnson Consumer to develop phage-based antibacterial skin care products (see story). Phagelux, headquartered in Shanghai, but with labs in Nanjing and Montreal, is dedicated to developing novel phage and lysin antibacterial products. Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria and destroy them, an alternative mechanism to normal antibiotics. Phagelux's work with J&J will be aimed at "one or more" bacteriophage skin care products that will address either difficult-to-address or antibiotic-resistant bacteria. 

Cellular Biomedicine (NSDQ: CBMG) formed a strategic collaboration with GE Healthcare Life Sciences China to co-develop an automated autologous cell preparation system for immunotherapy/stem cell manufacturing (see story). To develop the processes, the two companies will build a joint laboratory inside CBMG’s new Zhangjiang GMP facility in Shanghai. CBMG developed its own progenitor and dendritic cell therapies for cancer and osteoarthritis. Two years ago, it acquired CAR-T cancer immunotherapy technology from the Chinese PLA 301 Hospital of Beijing. 

Trials and Approvals

Immunitor, a Vancouver immuno-oncology company with offices in Mongolia and Hong Kong, reported positive data from a Phase II trial of its oral vaccine in liver cancer patients (see story). Over 90% of patients with advanced liver cancer were alive after a median 12 months, while only 10% of patients who received Nexavar (sorafenib) reached that mark. The trial enrolled 75 patients with late-stage hepatocellular carcinoma. Immunitor has started a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase III trial of the vaccine, Hepko-V5, at the Mongolian National Cancer Center. 

Industry Spotlights

For years, China has been promoting itself as a source of innovative drug development . And there's a lot going on. But China still has to prove itself: it needs to develop a novel drug that is accepted in the west. As the Wall Street Journal pointed out in an article using data from ChinaBio®, China is closing in on that milestone (see story). Several western companies plan to start trials of China-discovered novel drugs, and China has become a powerhouse in the field of biologic drugs, the most advanced, most lucrative sector of drug development. Over the past ten years, China has progressed from a promising source of novel drugs to an essential one. 

Six years ago, Hua Medicine (Shanghai) in-licensed global rights to a novel GKA treatment for type 2 diabetes from Roche (see story). Late last year, Hua announced positive results from the candidate's China proof-of-concept Phase II trial. The company also raised $50 million in additional capital during 2016 and has started US clinical development of the GKA candidate. Li Chen, PhD, co-founded Hua with Ge Li, PhD, founder of WuXi AppTec. In an exclusive ChinaBio® Today interview, Dr. Chen talks about Hua Medicine and the contribution of the ChinaBio® Partnering Forum to China's drug development ecosystem. The 2017 ChinaBio® Partnering Forum will be held May 31-June 1 in Zhuhai, China.  

Disclosure: none.


 

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