Earnings reports for China biomedical companies continued to be released at a slower pace over the past five days. Lotus Pharma announced its revenues climbed an admirable 51% but net income dropped 27%; Sinobiomed emphasized its pipeline rather than its revenues, which are falling; and China Shenghuo Pharma said it will have to restate its reports because of irregularities; Smith & Nephew will expand two China manufacturing facilities; CRO Venturepharm Labs purchased 44% of the US CRO, Commonwealth Biotechnologies; and MicuRx Pharma picked its first preclinical development candidate, a next-generation antibiotic. More details...

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Perhaps this is the adolescent phase of China biopharma development: spectacular growth spurts, but often accompanied around by adjustment difficulties as young enterprises grow into adulthood, almost as we watch.  This was aptly illustrated last week by the earning reports from China life science companies.  On the upside, WuXi PharmaTech saw a very solid increase in revenues and net income, though questions remain about its AppTec acqusition; American Oriental Bioengineering announced a huge acquisition and higher revenues; Sinovac Biotech enjoyed a substantial increase in Q2 revenues; and China Sky One Medical and BMP Sunstone detailed excellent Q2 performances. On the downside, 3SBio Inc. said revenues rose but net income fell; the revenues for Benda Pharmaceutical’s gene-therapy cancer drug slipped though overall revenues were higher; and Tongjitang Chinese Medicines  continued to be hurt by counterfeit versions of its flagship product. In other news, China Medical Technologies placed $240 million in 4% convertible senior notes, together with an unusual shorting stratagem; China Sky One Medical developed a nasal spray for rheumatic disease; and Schering-Plough  bought in the 45% of its majority-owned China JV that it did not already own.  More details... 

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Last week, China biopharma saw news across a broad front. HD Biosciences officially announced a Series A financing; vaccine maker Dalian Jingang-Andi Bio-Products completed its reverse merger with China Bio-Immunity Corporation; Pfizer will house its Biotherapeutics and Bioinnovation Center (BBC) in the new Mission Bay area of San Francisco; Lonza Group will form a China-based unit to provide engineering services for China biopharma companies; Eisai China will market a neuropathic pain drug for STADA Arzneimittel; China Pharma Holdings reported higher Q2 revenues and net income, though the rate of growth is declining; Simcere Pharma announced a solid improvement in Q2 results that nevertheless missed estimates; and the very successful Q1 for China Medical Technologies was led by its newer diagnostic products.  More details...

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In ChinaBio® Today, we profiled two China biotechs last week. One, Shenogen Pharma Group, won one of the two “Most Promising Company” awards at the recent ChinaBio® Investor Forum, The other profiled company, Beike Biotechnology, provides stem cell treatments for a variety of difficult-to-treat maladies. Bridge Labs announced plans to build a second preclinical facility in China; Lotus Pharma will construct a manufacturing plant in Inner Mongolia; Zhejiang Huahai Pharma will provide finished product, not just APIs, to Merck; Tianyin Pharma was given SFDA approval for a generic version of the statin simvastatin; CompuMed received approval from the SFDA to market its osteoporosis  diagnostic software in China; Bayer and Onyx Pharmas were awarded SFDA approval for their  cancer drug, Nexavar®; Huifeng Bio-Pharmaceutical remains on track to gain approval to provide Diosmin to Safic-Alcan; NovaMed Pharma added a sixth drug to the list of pharmaceutical products it distributes in China for Sanofi-Aventis; and Sinobiomed received part of a new $500,000 funding.  More details...

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The news flow from the China biomedical sector slowed considerably last week, probably the summer doldrums. We published the second part of our guest article that updates proposed patent law changes.  GSK completed an unusual deal with generic manufacturer, Aspen PharmaCare; MedMira received a China patent for its diagnostic device and assay; GNI Ltd. of Japan in-licensed a late-stage hepatitis drug from EpiCept; and Genelabs Technologies will collaborate with Taiwan’s National Health Research Institutes and Genovate Biotechnology of Taiwan to develop drugs for hepatitis C virus.  More details...

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Zero2IPO released its Q2 review of China venture capital activity, showing sharp increases across-the-board in both funds raised and funds invested, though the Bio/healthcare sector declined year-over-year; Shanghai reported a new fund to offer financing to innovative companies; a Shanghai-based consortium expects to invest $145 million in companies in the near future; however, China’s contract manufacturing organizations are not having much success raising money; venture capitalists reported they consider the quality of management to be just as important as the viability of a company's product; Qiming made a $5 million investment into Shanghai-based CRO Tigermed; Veeda Clinical Research of India bought US-based CRO International Oncology Network; BMP Sunstone signed a letter of intent to acquire 75% of Zhangjiakou Shengda Pharmaceutical; the SFDA authorized the marketing of a Genesis Pharmaceuticals TCM drug for flu; and Abraxis BioScience received SFDA approval for ABRAXANE® Paclitaxel.  More details...

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The ChinaBio® Investor Forum took place in Shanghai on July 7-8, the only such event devoted to China’s early-stage biomedical sector. More than 250 attendees gained insights from 24 speakers, and 21 early-stage companies presented their stories to 80 venture capitalists. Two of the presenting companies were honored with the "Most Promising Companies" award: Shenogen Pharma Group and Beyond Diagnostics. GlaxoSmithKline announced its plans to double its China-based R&D staff in the next year; American Oriental placed $115 million of convertible notes; Bio-Bridge Science netted $2.8 million in a private placement; Commonwealth Biotechnologies exercised a $1 million put with Venturepharm Labs; AMDL signed a letter of intent to acquire a drug distributor; CRO Sundia MediTech was again named to the list of the 50 best China companies for investment; Bayer AG expects to increase its China revenues by more than 20% per year over the next five years; Helicon Group received SFDA approval for ReCell®, a skin regeneration device; and China Sky One Medical received production approval for three injected products. More details...

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ChinaBio® Today looked at the newest draft of the Patent Revision rules to see what changes are in the offing; 3SBio was profiled after its filed its 2007 year-end financial report; Biofield Corp. announced a $363 million JV to develop breast cancer clinics in China; Bayer HealthCare finally closed its $155 million acquisition of Topsun's OTC cough and cold portfolio; NovaMed will market six cancer drugs in China for Pfizer; the management-led offer to buy Tongjitang Chinese Medicines was withdrawn; Chindex received SFDA approval for two medical devices; Sinovac Biotech will begin a Phase II clinical trial of its split viron pandemic flu vaccine; and Renhuang Pharma's lab was recognized as a “Key Laboratory." More details...

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Last week witnessed the formation of an unusually high number of partnerships involving China. WuXi PharmaTech will partner with Covance on WuXi's Suzhou toxicology lab; the US and China will apply scientific research methods to traditional Chinese medicines; Pacific Biopharma combines three entities in a JV that will manufacture small batches of biological drugs; Krka invested in two China pharmaceutical companies; BioAlliance Pharma sold the China rights for Loramyc™ to NovaMed Pharma; Oculus will use Bayer (Sichuan) to gain approval of Microcyn in animals; Microbix Biosystems and the Hunan government will build a large vaccine facility; Yunnan Baiyao Group bought the remaining 49% of Lijiang Medicine Co.; Bayer AG expects to be the biggest seller of prescription drugs in China this year; and we published a report from the BIO convention on VC investment in Asia.  More details... 

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Last week, much of the news about China’s biomedical industry came from San Diego’s BIO Convention. We covered the “Opportunities for Collaborations and Investments" panel discussion and the pre-convention “Burrill India-China Life Sciences Meeting,” which examined the bilateral relationship between China biomedical companies and the West.
In China last week, the FDA announced it will open three offices in China; three new joint ventures were unveiled, including one between
Alpharma (NYSE: ALO)and Zhejiang Hisun Pharma (SHSE: 600267) to manufacture Vancomycin, a JV formed by Immtech (AMEX: IMM) and Beijing Capital Medical University (BCMU) to provide contract research services (CRS) in China, and a third between Cordium Links and an unnamed entity to provide cardiac safety monitoring for China clinical trials; and finally, China Sky One Medical (AMEX: CSY) received SFDA approval for an additional four products.  More detail...

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