RuiYi Inc., a San Diego-Shanghai biotech, signed an exclusive license with Genor BioPharma of Shanghai to develop RuiYi’s lead molecule in China; RuiYi also enlisted CMC Biologics to develop a cell line for RYI-008; Vectura, a UK maker of inhaled therapies, established a China respiratory JV with two partners: Tianjin KingYork and Zendex Bio Strategy; SciClone Pharma in-licensed China rights to a heart failure drug from Zensun (Shanghai) Science & Technology; WuXi PharmaTech released positive financial results and candidly discussed the performance of its business units; Amgen, which has not had a major presence in China, is now making good on its promise to use partnerships to establish itself; and BioDuro opened a new CRO laboratory in Shanghai, complementing its existing facility in Beijing. More details…..

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Syros Pharmaceuticals of Boston raised $30 million to develop cancer treatments from WuXi PharmaTech and other investors; a subsidiary of Hua Han Bio-Pharma signed a framework agreement to set up a JV with China’s National Vaccine & Serum Institute; Tasly Pharma paid $240 million to acquire Jiangsu TaslyDiyi Pharma, a maker of chemical drugs; 3SBio received a much-higher offer from the consortium that is offering to take the company private, though the consortium is alleged to have discouraged other bids; Takeda and Sanofi agreed to co-promote Takeda’s Alogliptin, a DPP-4 treatment for type 2 diabetes, in China; Eisai announced plans to build a second production facility in Suzhou; and China scientists used lasers as optical tweezers to pick apart a blockage in the capillaries of a mouse ear, cell by cell. More details….

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Ascletis will collaborate with Roche to develop Roche’s hepatitis C virus drug in China; Thermo Fisher acquired Life Technologies, pitching the transaction as an attractive combination for Asian markets; the Zongyi Group of China invested $8.6 million in ContraFect Corporation, a New York biotech; Wuhan Kindstar Diagnostics, a testing service for China hospitals, will collaborate with Illumina; Cipla launched a biosimilar version of the arthritis treatment Enbrel in India, which it sources from Shanghai CP Guojian; Suzhou Ascepion Pharma said Debiopharm of Switzerland will support further China development of a cancer treatment; Eddingpharm and Chiesi Farmaceutici formed a JV to market two of Chiesi’s asthma drugs in China; Merck opened its new $120 million drug packaging facility in Hangzhou; Injex Pharma of Germany received SFDA approval to market its INJEX30 needle-free injection system in China for insulin; Shenzhen Chipscreen Biosciences’ lymphoma treatment met its primary endpoint in a Phase II trial; and a subsidiary of Inner Mongolia Furui Medical was given FDA 510(k) approval to market its liver fibrosis device in the US. More details….

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Eli Lilly’s animal health division, Elanco, will pay $100 million to buy a 20% stake in China Animal Healthcare Ltd.; OriGene Technologies acquired the assets of SDIX, an antibody maker, for $16 million; Tong Ren Tang plans to IPO a subsidiary, TRT Chinese Medicine, on the ChiNext exchange in Q2; the National Center for Drug Screening of China and PerkinElmer will collaborate to validate new diagnostic tests for diabetes in Asian populations; Eddingpharm will market and distribute Tykerb, a GlaxoSmithKline breast cancer drug, in China; China issued its expanded 2012 Essential Drug List along with a directive telling local governments to consider quality – not just price – when choosing drug suppliers; the US FDA asked for $4.7 million to carry out inspections of China pharmas that export to the US during fiscal year 2014; and China’s SFDA will fast-track approvals of peramivir, a flu treatment, in response to the bird flu outbreak. More details….

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Sanofi is actively seeking China M&A opportunities in the consumer healthcare and veterinary products sectors, according to the company’s CEO; Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine in-licensed China rights to a novel antibody from X-Body Biosciences of the US; Sanofi Pasteur will fund research at China’s Xiamen University aimed at developing a universal flu vaccine; Baxter’s China division announced a program with China officials to bring home-based kidney dialysis to China’s rural areas; China NT Pharma Group signed a MOU with Sinopharm to form a JV that will market and sell vaccines; Hangzhou Nurotron Biotech has developed a cochlear implant at half the current price; and a new strain of bird flu, H7N9, in China has mobilized the CDC. More details…..

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In an exclusive ChinaBio® Today interview, Dr. Jun Wang, CEO of BGI, said the sequencing company is “dream-driven,” always seeking to fulfill the promise of genomic science; BGI closed its $118 million acquisition of US-based Complete Genomics last week; Roche Holding stepped up as one of the bidders for lab equipment-maker Life Technologies; Hony Capital will support Simcere’s $506 million management-led privatization offer; OriGene of Maryland raised $21.3 million in a funding led by two China-focused venture funds; BGI and H3 Biomedicine of Cambridge will collaborate to sequence pre-clinical cancer models; Lilly officially opened the Lilly Global IT Innovations Lab in Dalian; Taiwan Liposome’s innovative liver cancer drug was accepted into the SFDA’s Green Path program; Amoy Diagnostics, a Xiamen IVD company, was OK’d to market a test for genetic abnormalities that affect lung cancer treatment; and Antisense of Australia will have Pharmaron conduct a toxicology study of its multiple sclerosis drug candidate. More details….

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ChinaBio^® Today recently had the chance to interview Dr. Jun Wang, a co-founder of China’s sequencing giant, BGI-Shenzhen. Dr. Wang was named Executive Director of the company at the young age of 32. The company works with many of the big pharma and has established several major international partnerships. The driving force behind these relationships, according to Dr. Wang, is always the science. “We are a dream-driven organization,” he says. The dream is the promise of genomic science to improve human life, and BGI seems willing to enter any partnership that will advance genomic science, even if it doesn’t necessarily represent a profit opportunity. More details....

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