China-based biopharmas reported higher Q1 revenues and profits last week: American Oriental Bioengineering, Mindray Medical, and Simcere Pharmaceutical all started off the year with new levels of performance. The SFDA will introduce rules to shorten the wait for IND rulings for innovative drugs, Venturepharm Asia, revealed plans to build two labs in Jiangsu province, WuXi PharmaTech postponed a secondary stock offering, GlaxoSmithKline created a new division to focus on emerging markets, BMP Sunstone received clearance to begin human trials of Enablex®, and Takara Bio Inc. began testing a cancer immunotherapy in China. More details...

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Zero2IPO published its quarterly figures on venture capital in China, showing that investment in the Biotech/Healthcare sector jumped 33% in the first quarter to $67 million; Frontage Laboratories announced it received $10 million to expand its China operations; Tigermed joined the CRO Service Alliance of Shanghai; Bio-Bridge bought a 51% stake in Xinheng Baide Biotechnology, a manufacturer of bovine serum; China Biologic Products, Inc. received two critical SFDA approvals for coagulants; Novo Nordisk donated a license for its small molecule library to the National Center for Drug Screening (NCDS); and China Pharma Holdings reported large increases in earnings and revenues.  More details...

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China biopharma news was dominated last week by articles about investment in China facilities for drug development. Genzyme committed $90 million to building an R&D center in Beijing; Unigene Laboratories and Shijiazhuang Pharmaceutical formed a JV to manufacture osteoporosis treatment calcitonin; Changzhou Tongtai Biopharmaceutical, a startup company, is being launched with $10 million to develop a modern rabies vaccine; Simcere Pharmaceutical acquired a second cancer drug by taking a 70% position in Wuhu Zhong Ren Pharmaceutical; the Beijing Genomics Institute expanded its capacity to sequence genes by purchasing 11 additional Genome Anlyzers from Illumina; Lotus Pharma reported its 2007 revenues increased 57% while net profits climbed 34%; and finally, Aida Pharma said its recent purchase of Shanghai Qiaer has yielded a second anti-cancer compound.  More details...

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Consolidation was a major theme last week in news from the life sciences companies of China.  American Oriental Bioengineering  took a 38% position in much smaller China Aoxing Pharmaceutical; Bionet Corp of Taiwan will invest in Shanghai Genecore Biotechnologies Co., the China subsidiary of Taiwan-based Vita Genomics; Bio-Bridge Science will start a vaccine cell culture JV with JR Scientific; Asian Clinical Trials, the CRO subsidiary of an Indian biomedical company, will enter an alliance with VPSCRO, a CRO based in Beijing; AsiaPharm in-licensed development-stage drugs from two Scottish biomedical companies; SciGen, Ltd. bought the China rights to a Generex oral insulin spray product; Calypte Biomedical was granted SFDA approval for an oral HIV diagnostic test; and WuXi PharmaTech endowed a professorship at Shanghai’s Tongji University. More details...

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China biopharma news came from a broad front last week, including stories on deals, new drugs, and corporate developments. WuXi PharmaTech announced plans for a 10 million share secondary offering, Actavis Group bought a 90% stake in Zhejiang Chiral Medicine Chemicals Company, Transgenomic found a China partner, China YCT International will absorb the operations of its supplier, Frontier Biotechnologies received SFDA approval to start  trials of a new HIV drug, Aida Pharma announced the existence of a new wide-spectrum antibiotic, Adaltis will move the focus of its in-vitro diagnosis business to China, Becton, Dickinson opened its second China manufacturing facility, Wyeth said it would not build an R&D center in China, and China Shenghuo Pharma reported net 2007 earnings of $4 million on sales of $20 million. More details...

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Although the ChinaBio® Index dropped during the first quarter, China’s biomedical enterprises kept their corporate activity at a high level, producing a heavier than usual news flow during the last week. CROs in particular were making deals. Commonwealth Biotechnologies formed a China-based JV with Venturepharm Labs; Chemizon participated in Crown Bioscience’s Series B financing as part of an alliance; Sanofi-Aventis will seek to establish half a dozen research partnerships with China universities and research institutions; China Sky One Medical  said 2007 revenues were up 148% at $49.3 million; Boehringer Ingelheim reported its 2007 revenues increased 46% to 697 million RMB ($95 million); revenues for Sinovac Biotech were up a dramatic 118% to $33.5 million; ProGenTech of Shanghai and Emeryville, CA raised $21 million in a Series C round; and Oculus announced SFDA approval of its Microcyn® Technology for treatment of wounds.  More details...

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The wheels kept turning last week in China biotech, as companies jockeyed to increase their presence in the growing China market for pharmaceuticals. Aida Pharmaceuticals  acquired a controlling interest in Jiangsu Institute of Microbiology Co.; Tongjitang Chinese Medicines selected Morgan Stanley to advise them on the $10.20 per ADS offer to take Tongjitang private; CytoPharm will license low-dose interferon from Amarillo Biosciences for animal use; China Medicine Corporation reported its 2007 revenues were higher by a full 75%; and China Medical Technologies won the CE mark for two semi-automatic ECLIA analyzers and 15 reagents. More details...

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Last week, against the backdrop of the heparin scandal, China biotech went about its business of making deals and getting products approved. Tianyin Pharma (OTCBB:TYNP) reported SFDA approval for a generic antibiotic; Medigen Biotech of Taiwan bought the Asian rights to a cancer drug from Oncoloys of Japan for $199 million; Tongjitang spent $3.5 million to acquire a company with an OTC respiratory drug; 3SBio  announced a $20 million stock buyback; Shanghai GenePharma bought a RNAsi patent license from Alnylam; Chi-Med reported higher 2007 revenues and a bigger loss; and AstraZeneca reiterated the importance of China for the company.  More details...

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Earnings reports had an effect on China biotech last week. For WuXi PharmaTech, the year-end financials had a positive effect, while the report from Tongjitang Chinese Medicine was in the definitely mixed category. China Aoxing offered $19.6 million to buy a TCM company; Tianyin Pharma took the name of its operating entity; the deal to take AsiaPharm Group private fell into serious trouble; Global Research Services will begin offering full-service clinical trial management in China; the effectiveness of a TCM leukemia drug was written up in a US journal; we took a look at CapitalBio, a Beijing-based maker of biochips; and, as we predicted, the SFDA became part of an enlarged Ministry of Health (MOH). More details...

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Reports surfaced last week that the SFDA will become part of the Ministry of Health; US-traded China life sciences companies moved lower in price, partly because of WuXi PharmaTech, which reports in the coming week; American Oriental reported solid numbers for its Q4 but traded lower; Simcere moved up on good 2007 results; the Topsun-Bayer deal received a reprieve when Topsun extended the deadline to June 30, 2008; Hovione will pay more than 13 million euros ($19.5 million) to buy a 75% stake in Zhejiang Hisyn; Invida will buy the Asia Pacific operations of Valeant Pharma for $37.8 million; Pharmaxis is seeking to start a clinical trial in China of Bronchitol™, and safety issues were back in the headlines as the FDA and Baxter International found a contaminant in Baxter's heparin.  More details...

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