When China celebrated its New Year during January, it entered the Year of the Dragon, a symbol of wealth and power. The dragon also signifies transformation and rapid change. While change has been building in China’s life science industry for years, a transformation coalesced in 2011. Last year, China life science transformed itself from an industry with primarily local, inward-looking domestic companies to a sector that has global impact. ChinaBio® has just published a White Paper, available for free on its website (download here), detailing the growth of global activity in China’s life science sector during 2011 (see story).

Deals and Financings

Anaphore, a San Diego biotech startup, has acquired Shanghai-based RuiYi Inc., a company with expertise in G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) (see story). GPCRs have been the most productive field for small-molecule drugs over the past years. Anaphore said the RuiYi acquisition will help it extend the success of GPCRs into biologic drugs. According to Anaphore, RuiYi also gives Anaphore an entry to China’s drug development scene.

Qiagen (NSDQ: QGEN), the Dutch maker of sample and assay technologies, will open a joint translational medicine lab with Bio-X Center of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (see story). The goal of the collaboration is to turn biological research into new diagnostics and drugs. According to Qiagen, the lab is the first such collaboration between itself and a China research institution. Qiagen expects to form similar collaborations in other regions of China in the future.

Fosun Pharma (SHE: 600196) has bought another slice of Simcere Pharma (NYSE: SCR), paying $35 million on the open market for slightly less than a 1% stake (see story). The latest purchase brings their holdings to 7.5% of the company’s outstanding shares. Fosun, which has been nibbling at Simcere for some time now, has not declared any desire to acquire Simcere, but it seems only reasonable that they will eventually seek some sort of relationship. 

Big Pharma in China

Lilly (NYSE: LLY), which reported its China revenues climbed 31% in 2011, hopes to raise the China contribution to its total revenues from a current 2% up to 4% (see story). In dollars, that will bring the company from about $500 million to $1 billion in China revenues. “Our goal is to be the fastest growing pharmaceutical company in China,” CEO John Lechleiter said in a recent Beijing briefing. “We are increasing our investments in every aspect of our business.” Taking an unusual path for a big pharma, Lilly also said it hopes to form partnerships with China drug distributors.

Sihuan Pharma (HK: 0460) said its revenues for full-year 2011 were $354 million, an increase of 116%, while net income rose 58% to $130 million (see story). The company announced numerous acquisitions in 2011, but pharmaceutical products from these acquired companies contributed only about one-third of the increase. Sihuan offered the good news that it was successful at winning additional tenders last year “in most regions and at stable price levels.”

China Shijiazhuang Pharma (CSPC) (HK: 1093), a company that has traditionally been known as a maker of bulk pharmaceuticals, is expanding into patented, innovative drugs (see story). The company said it would focus on five disease sectors: cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, neurology, endocrinology (diabetes) as well as metabolism/digestion.

Zhejiang Hisoar Pharmaceutical (SHE: 002099) received approval to sell its API for meropenem, a beta-lactam antibiotic, in Japan (see story). The company’s Chuannan subsidiary was awarded a GMP compliance certificate by Japanese regulators. Hisoar said the approval will have a positive effect on the company’s performance, though it did not quantify the expected gain in revenue.

Disclosure: none.