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The Week in Review: Burrill and Infinity Announce China Life Science Fund

publication date: Oct 16, 2010
 | 
author/source: Richard Daverman, PhD
Burrill & Company has teamed up with Infinity Group to co-invest in China life science companies (see story). Burrill, a San Francisco VC/PE firm, will set up an office in Hong Kong, where Infinity is already headquartered. Infinity, a JV collaboration between the Israeli conglomerate IDB and China Development Bank, already runs nine funds in China, combining both dollar and RMB investments. The projected size of the Burrill/Infinity investments was not disclosed. Burrill and Infinity will co-invest as equal partners.

According to press reports, George Soros, the billionaire international investor, has committed $40 million to Sihuan Pharma’s (HK: 0460) upcoming Hong Kong IPO, one of six cornerstone investors in the offering(see story). Sihuan, China’s largest cardio-cerebral vascular drugmaker, plans to raise $749 million in its IPO.

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) announced that its new R&D center in Wuhan is up and running (see story). Previously reported as intellectual support for Phase I through IV clinical studies, Pfizer added that the facility’s particular focus will be radiation biology. The center will work on trials from around the world. Currently, the Wuhan center has 40 employees, a number that will grow to 200 by 2012.
http://www.chinabiotoday.com/articles/20101011

Roche (VX: ROG) announced that Tarceva, one of its blockbuster monoclonal cancer drugs, proved to be very effective against a specific form of lung cancer in a China trial (see story). The drug almost tripled the progression-free survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has the EGFR mutation. In China, about 30% of NSCLC cancers exhibit EGFR, while it is present in just 10% of western NSCLC patients.

Vital Therapies, Inc. said its bioartifical liver support system, ELAD, produced a significant increase in transplant-free survival (see story). A follow-up to the original China trial, conducted at the three-year point, shows that patients who survive in the short term enjoy extended survival. In a remarkable headline statistic, the follow-up concluded that median survival of the ELAD patients was at least 3 years, while the median survival for the control group was 37 days.

OrbusNeich has completed patient enrollment in a 180-patient trial of its Genous Bio-engineered R stent at 11 sites in China (see story). OrbusNeich positions the Genous stent as an alternative to drug-eluting stents for patients who either do not respond to or cannot tolerate long-term dual antiplatelet therapy. Many of these patients have diabetes. The Genous sten has been available around the world since 2005.

MingSight Pharmaceuticals bought the worldwide rights to two Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) chemical entities, which MindSight will develop to treat ophthalmic diseases (see story). Although MingSight is headquartered in San Diego, its R&D strategy involves collaboration with China partners.


Disclosure: none.







 

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