Deals and Financings

3SBio (HK: 1530) of Shenyang expanded its biosimilar business by raising its stake in Shanghai CP Guojian Pharma to 54% (see story). 3SBio, which acquired 7% of Guojian last year, paid $213 million for 47% of Guojian's outstanding shares. Guojian has two biosimilar products on the market: Yisaipu, a biosimilar to Amgen's (NSDQ: AMGN) Enbrel anti-inflammatory drug, and Xenopax, a biosimilar to Biogen's (NSDQ: BIIB) Zinbryta anti-organ rejection treatment. In addition, Guojian has a portfolio of mAbs awaiting CFDA approval and a mAb manufacturing facility. 

Eisai Co. (TO: 4523) of Japan added generic drugs to its China portfolio by acquiring Liaoning TianYi Biological Pharma for $78 million (see story). TianYi has China approval for 90 products, including both chemical drugs and TCM products. It currently markets about 20 of these and also produces APIs. With the acquisition, Eisai enters the hyper-competitive generic drug business in China for the first time; its current product line consists entirely of patent-protected drugs. 

Hefei Tianhui Incubator of Technologies signed a $50 million agreement for exclusive China rights to a clinical stage oral insulin product developed by Jerusalem's Oramed Pharma (NSDQ: ORMP) (see story). HTIT is partially owned by Sinopharm Group. The deal includes a $12 million investment by HTIT in Oramed (giving it a 9% stake), a $3 million upfront payment and $8 million in near-term payments. The rest is for milestones, and HTIT will also pay a 10% royalty, which Oramed said could make a significant impact on its earnings, given China's large population of diabetes patients. 

Hangzhou Tigermed (SHZ: 300347), a China-based, pan-Asia clinical CRO, paid $28 million to acquire a 98% stake in DreamCIS, a Korean clinical-stage CRO (see story). Tigermed said it would finance the entire amount. Tigermed also formed a strategic agreement with DIAN Diagnostics (SHZ: 300244) to develop a central laboratory in China, along with data management, to improve the services it offers to its clients. 

Ascletis, a Hangzhou-based novel biotech focused on infectious diseases and oncology, raised $20 million in investment funds from Goldman Sachs (see story). The investment is close on the heels of another Ascletis funding, a $35 million round led by C-Bridge Capital, Tasly Pharma and Pavilion Capital, which was announced in September. In an exclusive interview with ChinaBio® Today, Jinzi Wu, PhD, Ascletis' Founder, President and CEO, identified the Goldman Sachs funding as a pre-IPO (or mezzanine) round. Ascletis expects to IPO late next year or in 2017, depending on market conditions and other factors, he said.  

Frontline BioVentures, a Shanghai-based VC firm specializing in China life science companies, announced it has led a Series A round of unspecified size for Sino Health, a Sinopharm company (see story). Last year, Sino Health brought in strategic investors and sold off its nutritional food business to become an investment vehicle for a group that includes the state-owned Sinopharm, China's largest pharma. Frontline, together with other new investors, now joins that group and promises to use its contacts to provide Sino Health with a pipeline of innovative products and cutting edge technologies. Sinopharm will distribute the products. 

Shuwen Biotech, a Hangzhou-area IVD company, formed a strategic partnership with Germany's BioNTech Diagnostics that gives Shuwen exclusive rights to commercialize BioNTech’s molecular breast cancer stratification test in China (see story). Shuwen will also be responsible for obtaining CFDA approval of the test. The MammaTyper® test is a molecular diagnostic test, using RNA analysis to measure gene expression, for stratification of breast cancer by molecular subtyping of tumor tissue samples. 

Meinian Onehealth Healthcare has bid $1.5 billion to acquire iKang Healthcare (NSDQ: KANG), a provider of preventative healthcare services in China (see story). Meinian, iKang's major competitor, is part of an investor group that offered $22 per ADS for iKang. That's 24% higher than iKang's own take-private deal, which proposed $17.80 per ADS. Ligang Zhang, iKang's Chairman who announced his offer in August, said over the weekend he would not sell his iKang shares to the Meinian group, whose offer he called "undoubtedly hostile." 

Trials and Approvals

TaiGen Biotech (TWO: 4157) of Taiwan reported that the IV formulation of Taigexyn®, the company's novel antibiotic for drug-resistant infections, posted positive results in a Taiwan-China Phase III clinical trial in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (see story). Taigexyn's oral formulation is approved in Taiwan, but the antibiotic is not yet available in China in any form. In 2012, Zhejiang Medicine paid $8 million for China rights to the Class 1.1 new drug, a novel non-fluorinated quinolone. TaiGen expects to file for China approval of the IV antibiotic in 2016. 

Disclosure: none.