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Week in Review: Another Billion Dollar Week for China Life Science Deals

publication date: Sep 30, 2017
 | 
author/source: Richard Daverman, PhD

Deals and Financings

Shanghai Pharma Holding (SHA: 601607) may acquire part of Alvogen -- possibly Alvogen's US operations -- according to Bloomberg. Alvogen is a US-based generic drug maker thought to be worth as much as $4 billion (see story). It has operations in Asia, including China, along with eastern Europe and the US. Two years ago, a consortium including CVC Capital Partners and Temasek, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, paid $2 billion for a controlling stake in Alvogen. 

Shandong Weigao Group (HK: 1066), a medical device company, will acquire Argon Medical Devices of Texas for $850 million (see story). Shandong Weigao primarily makes single-use products while Argon develops specialty medical devices for interventional procedures. Participating in the transaction was an unnamed PE firm that will provide a $420 million loan and own 10% of a JV that holds Argon. Weigao said it anticipates using Argon as a platform to export its products.

Simcere Pharmaceutical of Nanjing struck a deal with Amgen to co-develop and commercialize four Amgen (NSDQ: AMGN) biosimilars in China (see story). The exact biosimilars were not disclosed, though Amgen said they address needs in inflammation and oncology. Earlier this month, Amgen was approved by the FDA to market a biosimilar to Roche's Avastin, the first oncology biosimilar approved in the US. Amgen has disclosed a portfolio of six biosimilars and says it has three more in earlier development.

China's Ping An Insurance (HK: 2318; SHA: 601318) paid $245 million to acquire a 10% stake in Japan's Tsumura (TYO: 4540), an herbal drugmaker (see story). Tsumura controls 84% of Japan's market for prescription Kampo medicine, the Japanese development of traditional Chinese medicine that started in the seventh century. The two companies will set up a JV to bring Kampo medicines to China, "offering more choice" to China's people, they added.  

China Resources Gosun Pharma in-licensed greater China rights to an antibiotic from Switzerland's Basilea Pharmaceutica (SIX: BSLN) in a deal worth up to $152 million (see story). Zevtera® (ceftobiprole) is effective against drug-resistant infections. CR Gosun will make an upfront payment of $3 million, and it will pay up to $149 million in regulatory and sales milestones. Zevtera is available in Europe and will soon start a US Phase III trial.  

Shenzhen Salubris Pharma (SHZ: 2294) made a $5 million investment in GO Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA pre-clinical company (see story). GO says it uses glycoproteomics to develop novel, multimodal first-in-class cancer therapeutics against intractable targets. GO currently has four candidates in pre-clinical studies, each of which includes a bi-specific mechanism that targets T-cells. The companies plan to have Salubris bring GO's drugs to China. The $5 million investment is the first funding that GO has announced.  

Hangzhou Chengyuan Genomics Company, an R&D tools startup, will market a single cell RNA sequencing device in China for Boston's 1CellBiO (see story). The device, 1CellBiO inDropTM, provides a high-quality whole transcriptome profile of the cell, according to 1CellBiO, which added that the device is both flexible and cost-effective. Chengyuan will provide single cell analysis research services while also marketing the device. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.  

Trials and Approvals

Gilead Sciences (NSDQ: GILD) of the US received CFDA approval for Sovaldi®, its once-daily oral treatment for chronic hepatitis C with ribavirin and/or interferon (see story). Last year, Gilead began building a China commercial operation in Shanghai in preparation for the approval. The Shanghai office joins Gilead's regulatory team in Beijing, a chemical manufacturing outsourcing group in Shanghai, and a new manufacturing facility under construction in Hangzhou, the company's first plant outside the US. Gilead must still address the issue of Sovaldi's price in China: in the US, a three-month treatment regimen costs close to $100,000.

Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVA) won CFDA approval for its latest diabetes treatment, Tresiba, in China (see story). The Danish company said Tresiba is a once-daily injection that controls blood sugar levels in both type 1 and type 2 diabetics. Novo Nordisk compared Tresiba, an insulin deduglec, to insulin glargines such as Lantus from Sanofi (NYSE: SNY). The two drugs, both injected once-daily, are equally effective, but Tresiba has a lower chance of causing hypoglycemia, it said. Novo Nordisk has long been active in China. http://www.chinabiotoday.com/articles/Novo-Nordisk-Approved-Diabetes

MicroPort Scientific (HK:00853) and LivaNova (NSDQ: LIVN) announced the CFDA approved their RegaTM family of pacemakers for China use (see story). Four years ago, the two companies formed a JV to bring the pacemakers to China. The JV, based in Shanghai, manufactures the devices in China and claims they are China’s first domestically manufactured pacemakers that meet international standards. They are priced below their non-China competitors, the JV added. Founded in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in 1998, MicroPort has grown to provide 200 products in ten major medical disciplines.

Sinovac Biotech (NSDQ: SVA), a Beijing vaccine company, reported positive topline results from a Phase III trial of its Varicella vaccine against chickenpox (see story). The new vaccine was both safe and effective in two large-scale China trials that enrolled children from one to twelve years old. In its release, Sinovac discussed its newest vaccine, but did not report any new developments in the company's long-running privatization battle.

Shanghai's Zai Lab (NSDQ: ZLAB) has dosed the first patient in a China Phase III trial of its lead drug, a PARP inhibitor (see story). ZL-2306 (niraparib) will be tested as a second-line maintenance therapy in patients with platinum-responsive recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer. Tesaro (NSDQ: TSRO), from whom Zai in-licensed greater China rights to the drug in 2016, was approved to market niraparib in the US earlier this year for these indications. Last week, Zai staged a very successful US IPO, raising $172.5 million.

Disclosure: none.


 

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