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The Week in Review: Cross Border Collaborations

publication date: Mar 14, 2009
 | 
author/source: Richard Daverman, PhD

Cross border collaborations are often a theme in ChinaBio® Today, and the theme was prevalent last week. aTyr Pharma, a US firm that is headquartered in San Diego, is developing naturally occurring protein fragments that may lead to compounds that treat a wide variety of diseases. Central to the company’s business plan is a lab in Hong Kong (see story). The China connection was instigated by Paul Schimmel, PhD, one of aTyr’s co-founders. Schimmel had a very positive China experience with an earlier startup, Sirtris. Sitris sent some of its pre-clinical work to Shanghai, and according to Jeff Watkins, PhD and CEO of aTyr Pharma (in an exclusive interview with ChinaBio® Today): “He found the work done there was absolutely critical to the success of Sirtris’ molecules.” aTyr established a lab in Hong Kong that will, hopefully, repeat Sitris’ success, providing insightful scientific work while reducing development costs.

Simcere Pharma (NYSE: SCR) (先声药业) will collaborate with San Francisco-based Epitomics, Inc. to develop anti-cancer drugs (see story). They will base their work on RabMAb®, Epitomics’ rabbit monoclonal antibodies. Until now, Epitomics has concentrated its efforts on applying RabMAb® to develop diagnostic tools. The Simcere collaboration will be the first attempt to develop humanized antibody therapeutics from the rabbit antibodies.

American Oriental Bioengineering (NYSE: AOB) (广西博科药业) will begin a US-based Phase I clinical trial of its oral TCM treatment for urinary incontinence (see story). AOB has marketed the UI drug in China since 2002 under the name Cease Enuresis Oral Capsule. The IND was based on pre-clinical work that was done in China to FDA standards. The clinical trials will be conducted in the US and China, though its goal is to show that AOBO-001, as the trial version is known, is effective for UI in American populations.

Biostar Pharmaceuticals (OTCBB: BSPM), which listed in the US in late 2008, paid almost $3 million (20 million RMB) to purchase 8.6 acres of land on which it will build a raw material processing facility for its TCM products (see story). Biostar plans to spend another $2.3 million (16 million RMB) to construct the plant, which will comprise about 6,000 square meters. The facility is only 5 kilometers from 80 acres of farmland that Biostar leased last fall. The company said the farmland will be used to grow herbs and plants that Biostar uses in its pharmaceutical products.

Last week, companies also continued to release their earnings reports, with three China biopharmas that are listed in the US making announcements. 3SBio Inc. (NSDQ: SSRX) (沈阳三生制药) said 2008 revenues rose 35% to 243 million RMB ($35.7 million) (see story). At the same time, following a trend seen in much of China biopharma, net income failed to keep pace with the increase in revenue. 3SBio said non-GAAP net income was 75 million RMB ($11 million) for the year, about equal to 2007’s results.

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group (NYSE: SCR) (先声药业), which makes both branded generic pharmaceuticals and the anti-angiogenesis cancer drug Endu, reported Q4 revenues climbed 17% to 467 million RMB ($68.4 million). However, net income fell 34% to 52 million RMB ($7.6 million) (see story). Simcere did not attribute the net income shortfall to any particular cause. The most dramatic increase was in R&D spending, which was up 114% to 34.0 million RMB ($5.0 million).

American Oriental Bioengineering (NYSE: AOB) (广西博科药业) continued to perform well financially in 2008, even though its corporate business developments sometimes confuse and frustrate investors (see story). The company said 2008 revenues were up 65% to $264.6 million. Non-GAAP net income rose 45% to $62.7 million. Both numbers show admirable upside progress. American Oriental’s stock price does not fully reflect its last three years of strong financial performance, though part of the problem may be that the company tends to undertake projects that investors don’t like.

Disclosure: none.


 

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