Venturepharm Asia, a joint venture between Commonwealth Biotechnologies and Venturepharm, will build two state-of-the-art chemistry facilities in Jiangsu province, China, with capital provided by Venturepharm and grants awarded by the federal government of China. The labs will employ 200 chemists by the end of 2008, and the JV expects to have 1000 scientists on board in 2010. The JV expects “strong” revenues in the first twelve months of operation, though it did not disclose a specific figure. It further projects that revenues will expand five-fold by 2010. More details...

Stock Symbols: (NSDQ: CBTE) (HK: 8225)

WuXi PharmaTech, the Shanghai-located CRO, has postponed its secondary stock offering, which was proposed one month ago, citing market conditions and the trading price of its ADSs. At the time of the SEC filing, WuXi was selling for $22.15. It has since declined to $19.15. More details...

Stock Symbol: (NYSE: WX)

Bio-Bridge Science, Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to buy a 51% share of Xinheng Baide Biotechnology Co. Ltd., located in Inner Mongolia in China. The purchase price of the stake is 6 million RMB ($865,000). Xinheng Baide manufactures bovine serum, which is used in the production of vaccines and in scientific research. Bio-Bridge expects the deal to close at the end of May 2008. Xinheng Baide is in the same business as a new JV that Bio-Bridge announced three weeks ago.  More details...

Stock Symbol: (OTCBB: BGES)

Frontage Laboratories received $10 million in growth capital from a group of investors led by Baird Capital Partners Asia (BCPA), the first investment made by the China-centered initiative of Baird Private Equity. The new capital is targeted at enlarging the company’s China operations with the goal of creating a world-class US-China CRO. More details...

In the first quarter of 2008, venture capital investments into the China Biotech/Healthcare sector increased to $89 million this year from $67 million in Q1 of 2007. That was a very respectable 33% jump. However, it lagged the performance of China VC investment as a whole, which more than doubled from $419 million in Q1 2007 to $904 million this year, a 125% increase. More details...

Changzhou Tongtai Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is being launched with the goal of producing inactivated rabies animal vaccines. Presently, China veterinarians have to choose between a less-effective, domestically produced, attenuated rabies inactivated vaccine and a more expensive imported vaccine. Changzhou Tongtai expects to be the first company in China with a domestically produced inactivated rabies vaccine, offering safety and efficacy at a low cost. The effort is under the supervision of a team of overseas scientists, headed by Dr. Fu Zhenfang, Professor of Veterinary Pathology at the College of Veterinary Medicine, the University of Georgia. More details...

Unigene Laboratories, Inc. of Fairfield, NJ has started construction of a facility that will house the operations of its China joint venture, the Unigene Biotechnology Co. Ltd. Unigene owns 45% of the JV; the other 55% is owned by Shijiazhuang Pharmaceutical Group Corporation and two subsidiaries. The JV will manufacture injectable, nasal and oral formulations of calcitonin, an osteoporosis treatment, and injectable and nasal formulations of parathyroid hormone. More details...

Stock Symbols: (OTCBB: UGNE) (NYSE: GSK) (NYSE: NVS)

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, which makes and sells the gene therapy cancer drug Endu in China, will pay 65 million RMB ($9 million) to acquire a 70% interest in Wuhu Zhong Ren Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, another cancer drug manufacturer. This is the fourth equity investment Simcere has made since completing its IPO, one year ago. More details...

Stock Symbol: (NYSE: SCR)

Bionet Corp, a Taiwan company that derives most of its revenue from the cord blood business, will invest in Shanghai Genecore Biotechnologies Co., a subsidiary of another Taiwanese company, Vita Genomics. Bionet and Vita Genomics are planning to list Shanghai Genecore on Shenzhen’s NASDAQ-like board aimed at high-tech start-ups, an exchange that is expected to debut in the second half of this year. More details...

Bio-Bridge Science, Inc. signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with JR Scientific, Inc. to establish a joint venture that will be backed by several China investors. The joint venture will be capitalized with 10 million RMB ($1.4 million). JR Scientific is a California manufacturer of classical and custom cell culture medium and sera products. The joint venture will produce culture medium, serum, and other biomaterial for sale in China and other countries. More details...

Stock Symbol: (OTCBB: BGES)