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Week in Review: ChemPartner's Scientific Expertise

publication date: Dec 28, 2013
 | 
author/source: Richard Daverman, PhD

Featured Company

Dr. Arthur Taveras, President and CSO of ChemPartner/ShangPharma told ChinaBio® Today in an exclusive interview, "ChemPartner has a special phenotype that is unlike any other company. Our people have a true scientific understanding and they can solve problems, which is the best match for what pharmaceutical companies want," (see story).

Deals and Financings

Shenzhen Hepalink Pharma (SHE: 002399) purchased Scientific Protein Laboratories, a US maker of APIs, for $337.5 million plus undisclosed contingency payments (see story). Both companies produce API for heparin an anticoagulant. SPL harvests heparin from pig’s intestines in the US, Canada and Changzhou City, China. Hepalink said the acquisition will broaden its distribution network.

Walvax Biotech (SHE: 300142) will acquire 64% of Shanghai’s Genor BioPharma via two transactions, paying a total of 290 million RMB ($49 million) (see story). Genor Biopharma, which was formed by China’s Wison Group conglomerate, specializes in MAbs and other biologic drugs. It develops its own drug candidates and partners with other biopharmas. Walvax intends to acquire 100% of Genor. In September, when rumors of the transaction first surfaced, it was also thought that Walvax would IPO Genor in the US. So far, that part of the story has not been confirmed.

Nurotron Biotechnology, a Hangzhou medical device company, raised “as much as” 100 million RMB ($16.5 million) in a C funding round (see story). Nurotron has developed a 24-channel cochlear implant that it sells for $16,000, which is half the cost of the market-leading import made by Australia’s Cochlear (ASX: COH). Investors in the C round were Kleiner Perkins Caulfield Byers and DT Capital Partners. Qiming was the sole investor in Nurotron’s previous two rounds.

News and Analysis

In China, eight young children died after developing adverse reactions to a hepatitis B vaccine (see story). Six of the newborns were given vaccines produced by Shenzhen Kangtai Biological Products, China’s largest provider of hepatitis B vaccines with a 60% market share. China regulators have stopped all use of Kangtai’s vaccine, pending an investigation. Two other children have died following administration of a vaccine made by Beijing Tiantan Biological Products. So far, authorities have not restricted use of Tiantan’s products.

Trials and Approvals

TaiGen Biotech, a Taiwan-Beijing company, said its lead antibiotic drug, nemonoxacin (Taigexyn®), was granted two important designations by the US FDA: Qualified Infectious Disease Product and Fast Track (see story). The designations add a five-year extension to the antibiotic’s exclusivity, priority review and fast track status. In May, TaiGen submitted nemonoxacin for New Drug Approval in Taiwan and China as a treatment for community-acquired bacterial pneumonia and acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections.

Disclosure: none,


 

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