Deals and Financings

Luye Pharma is planning to stage a $750 million IPO in Hong Kong (see story). Luye is a China company that makes TCM products, innovative drugs and biotech products. It is controlled by three China private equity companies, which bought a 77% stake in Luye in 2012 when the company had a market capitalization of $320 million. Later that year, the PE firms bought out the public shareholders and delisted Luye from the Singapore exchange. The new Hong Kong IPO is expected to value Luye at somewhere in the $1-$1.5 billion range.

CR Double-Crane (SHA: 600062) will distribute a Sagent Pharma (NSDQ: SGNT) pediatric orphan drug in China (see story). The product is caffeine citrate, available in injected and oral formulations, which is administered to premature infants (born at less than 33 weeks) to prevent sleep apnea. The two companies say they will add other drugs to the relationship in the future. Financial details were not disclosed.

Government and Regulatory

The China Food and Drug Administration has established a priority review process for innovative medical devices (see story). If a product qualifies, the process is limited to 60 working days for China-made products and 40 working days for products from outside China. The CFDA will set up a separate office with a dedicated expert panel to do the reviews. The priority review will be available starting March 1, 2014.

Industry Insights

Pharmaceutical foreign trade for China – which combines in-bound and out-bound activity – rose 10% to $89.7 billion last year (see story). China exported more pharmaceutical products than it imported, though imports are catching up. Most of China’s exports have traditionally been APIs, which constituted 46% of 2013’s exports. However, higher value products such as finished cardiovascular drugs are providing the growth as ex-China API sales are slowing.

News and Analysis

China researchers at the East China Normal University have created gold nanoshells that may improve delivery of chemotherapies to cancerous tumors (see story). The nanoshells – only one-fiftieth the size of a red blood cell – are guided to the tumor by a peptide on the surface of the shell. Attached to the nanoshell is a commonly used chemotherapy, doxorubicin, which is released by the acidic environment of the tumor. More details....

Disclosure: none.