Deals and Financings

Columbia China has begun construction on a $150 million 500-bed multi-specialty hospital in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province (see story). Columbia China is a 50-50 joint venture between Columbia Pacific Management of Seattle, a senior living/hospital company focused on Asia, and Temasek, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore. The new hospital, which is Columbia's second in China, will open in 2019. Columbia China currently operates Shanghai Kaiyuan Orthopedic Hospital, a 232-bed facility.  

Fosun Pharma (SHA: 600196; HK: 2196) and Gland Pharma have devised a fallback strategy to implement if India decides to prohibit Fosun's planned $1.3 billion acquisition of an 86% stake in Gland (see story). The two companies plan to scale back the size of the transaction, selling a 74% ownership of Gland (presumably at a price of about $1.1 billion). India's Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) reviews any foreign acquisition of a domestic company if it involves ownership of 75% or more. Otherwise, the approval is automatic. The CCEA is holding up a ruling because of a border dispute between India and China, not because it has any problems with the deal itself.  

Samsung Bioepis (KS: 207940), a division of Samsung Biologics, announced a joint venture with Japan's Takeda Pharma (TYO: 4502) to develop novel biologic drugs (see story). The JV's first project will be TAK-671, a candidate aimed at severe acute pancreatitis. Samsung Biologics has two divisions: a biologics CMO operation, and Samsung Bioepis, a company formed by Samsung and Biogen (NSDQ: BIIB). Until now, Bioepis has been developing biosimilars, but the Takeda agreement will take Bioepis into novel drug development for the first time. One year ago, Samsung Biologics staged a $2 billion IPO on the Korean market.  

HitGen of Chengdu and Houston has formed another drug discovery collaboration, this one with Aduro Biotech (NSDQ: ADRO), an immunocology company based in Berkeley, California (see story). HitGen will employ its very large library of small molecules to discover novel small molecule leads for targets chosen by Aduro. Earlier this year, HitGen established partnerships with Merck (NYSE: MRK), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), the Scripps Institute and LEO Pharma of Denmark. HitGen will receive an upfront payment, and it will be eligible for milestone payments from Aduro.  

Zhejiang Hisun Pharma (SHA: 600267) will provide clinical trial supplies of a novel inhaled treatment for drug resistant TB for Seattle's IDRI (Infectious Disease Research Institute) (see story). The agreement, described as a partnership, will presumably include commercial supply, though details were not disclosed. CPZEN-45 was originally discovered by the Institute of Microbial Chemistry (IMC), a nonprofit Tokyo research institute. It has reached late pre-clinical development through work done at the IDRI and the Lilly TB Drug Discovery Initiative, which is focused on finding effective treatments for drug-resistant TB.  

Eone-Diagnomics Genome Center Co. of South Korea will partner with GPBio of China to expand Asian markets for their consumer and genetic analysis services (see story). EDGC is itself a joint venture, formed between San Diego's Diagnomics and South Korea's EONE. EDGC offers genomic analysis services and microarrays for genetic disorders and cancer. Headquartered in Shanghai, GPBio plans to build China's largest human genomic database, with the goal of producing accurate genetic tests.  

GlaxoSmithKline China (NYSE: GSK) will partner with Ali Health to promote Cervarix, its HPV/cervical cancer vaccine in China (see story). Ali Health, a part of Alibaba's on-line shopping program Taobao, will feature information on the vaccine and provide links to China community health clinics for consultations and appointments. GSK and Ali Health hope to have 1500 clinics in 100 China cities signed up with the website by the end of the year. Eventually, the two companies plan to extend the on-line partnership to include GSK's pediatric and adult vaccines.  

Disclosure: none.