Weekly Roundup: June 19, 2007
- 'India, China Hold Key to Drug Firms' Global Expansion' (Asia)
- Australia's Sigma Eyes Bid for Symbion (Australia)
- Indian Pharmas Increase API Imports From China (India)
- Vical Licensee AnGes MG Announces Positive Results Of Phase 3 Angiogenesis Trial In Japan (Japan)
- Reliance Life Sciences Plans to Acquire Co in Europe or US (India)
- Taiwan Researchers Claim Cancer Therapy Alternative (Taiwan)
- Amer Oriental Plans To Buy Changchun Xinan Pharm For $30M (China)
- Announcement of the Launch of the Selective COX-2 Inhibitor Celecox Tablets in Japan (Japan)
- Scientists Identify Previously Undetected Drug Resistant Forms of HIV (India)
- Pfizer Agrees to Invest US$300 Mln in Joint R&D With S. Korea (South Korea)
- We Are Still Not Independent of Foreign Drug Firms (Phillipines)
- China Biopharma to Acquire Beijing Tiancheng Haixin (China)
- India Sees Possibility of Economic Ties with Indonesia (Indonesia)
'India, China Hold Key to Drug Firms' Global Expansion' (Asia)
Global pharmaceutical companies will have to expand into China and India to compete in the expanding world pharmaceutical market, concludes the new pharmaceutical report "Pharma 2020" by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Companies need to begin testing drugs with human patients earlier in the developmental process, says Pharma 2020, to avoid failure during expensive late-stage clinical trials. In the year 2020, China will be either the second or third largest pharmaceutical market in the world, predicts the report. In addition, up to 20 percent of all worldwide drugs sales will occur in the developing countries of Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, and Turkey. The report predicts that the global pharmaceutical market will total $1.3 trillion in 2020. The most competitive companies will be focusing on many lower-cost medicines, rather than on billion-dollar blockbuster drugs. (Click here for more )
"'India, China Hold Key to Drug Firms' Global Expansion'"
Economic Times of India Online (06/14/07)
Australia's Sigma Eyes Bid for Symbion (Australia)
Sigma Pharmaceuticals of Australia plans to join the fray and make a bid to purchase Symbion Health's large network of pharmacy services and consumer pharmaceutical businesses in Australia. Healthscope and its partners already have bid 2.86 billion Australian dollars for it. Sigma's interest may derail that deal. (Click here for more )
"Australia's Sigma Eyes Bid for Symbion"
Financial Times (06/15/07)
Indian Pharmas Increase API Imports From China (India)
Increasing Indian active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) imports from China to India are posing a threat to domestic companies in India. Some industry experts estimate that 25 percent of domestic industry's API requirements are being met by Chinese imports. "Over a period of time, the import of Chinese APIs to India could become a cause for concern. The landed price for some Chinese APIs in India is less than their corresponding cost of production in India," says Utkarsh Palnitkar of Ernst & Young. API is the active chemical used for formulations. Many of India's leading drug companies, such as Ranbaxy and Dr Reddy's, manufacture both formulations and APIs. "China is emerging as a key player and we see this as an opportunity to source raw materials and intermediates from there, in order to take full advantage of cost competitiveness. This will also give us an edge in our global operations," says Ranbaxy Laboratories executive director Ramesh Adige. According to Hyderabad, India-based API manufacturer Navin Fluorine, the volume of APIs that are being sourced from China will double in the next 2-3 years, but industry analysts believe that in the higher margin export market, Indian API makers will continue to have an edge over Chinese companies. India has over 40 US FDA approved API plants in the country while the number of FDA approved facilities in China is much less, giving the domestic companies an advantage over their Chinese counterparts when it comes to exporting to the US and other regulated markets. (Click here for more )
"Indian Pharmas Increase API Imports From China"
Economic Times of India (06/16/07) Singh, Khomba
Vical Licensee AnGes MG Announces Positive Results Of Phase 3 Angiogenesis Trial In Japan (Japan)
Vical Inc. reports a Phase 3 trial of an angiogenesis drug candidate for treating restricted blood flow, or ischemia, using Vical's DNA delivery technology achieved its primary endpoint without producing major safety concerns according to an interim analysis. After 12 weeks of treatment, 70 percent of the patient group showed improvement and 31percent of the placebo group improved. AnGes is ending the trial and preparing to file an application for Japanese marketing approval. (Click here for more - May Require Paid Subscription)
"Vical Licensee AnGes MG Announces Positive Results Of Phase 3 Angiogenesis Trial In Japan"
Asian Wall Street Journal (06/18/07) Seward, John
Reliance Life Sciences Plans to Acquire Co in Europe or US (India)
Reliance Life Sciences (RLS) of India is looking to expand its clinical research services in the United States or Europe and purchase a company that specializes in clinical research services. "We are looking at companies with revenues of less than $15 million," says RLS President K. V. Subramaniam. The acquisition will enable RLS to conduct multi-center global clinical trials, says Subramaniam. In addition, RLS recently created a corporate entity located in Delaware. Meanwhile, India-based pharmaceutical outsourcing services are facing low-cost competition from Latin America and Eastern Europe, says Frost & Sullivan analyst Mahesh Sawant. The RLS clinical research division was founded four years ago and can handle pre-clinical to phase IV trials as well as conduct bio-availability studies. (Click here for more )
"Reliance Life Sciences Plans to Acquire Co in Europe or US"
Economic Times of India (06/14/07) Bisserbe, Noemie
Taiwan Researchers Claim Cancer Therapy Alternative (Taiwan)
Taiwan Academia Sinica President Dr. Wong Chi-huey and his research team say they have found 10 new sugar-fat compounds that will inhibit cancer growth while extending patients' survival times with minimal side effects. "So far most anti-cancer drugs are associated with side-effects like nausea and hair loss," says research team member Alice Yu. Yu says these new compounds cause less side effects because they boost systematic immunity rather than attack cancer cells. The compounds have been effective with mice in pre-clinical and phase-I trials, says Dr. Chi-huey. These new compounds are based on a compound called a-Galcer, first discovered in Japan in 1995. Research team member Dr. Chang Ya-jen says the new compounds may be useful in manufacturing drugs that would "provide an alternative therapeutic approach" to cancer. (Click here for more )
"Taiwan Researchers Claim Cancer Therapy Alternative"
France24 (06/14/07)
Amer Oriental Plans To Buy Changchun Xinan Pharm For $30M (China)
American Oriental Bioengineering Inc. has signed a letter of intent to acquire Changchun Xinan Pharmaceutical Group Co., a privately owned plant-based pharmaceutical company, for up to about $30 million. American Oriental, which is based in China, said it has 90 days to enter into a definitive purchase agreement and close the transaction.
American Oriental says the transaction is consistent with its acquisition strategy to acquire companies that are accretive to its operations within one year of closing. (Click here for more - May Require Paid Subscription)
"Amer Oriental Plans To Buy Changchun Xinan Pharm For $30M"
Asian Wall Street Journal (06/13/07) Dagher, Veronica
Announcement of the Launch of the Selective COX-2 Inhibitor Celecox Tablets in Japan (Japan)
Astellas Pharma and Pfizer Japan have announced that selective COX-2 inhibitor Celecox for relieving inflammation and pain "associated with rheumatoid arthritis" will debut in Japan on June 12, 2007. Astellas will manufacture and distribute the drug in Japan based on active ingredients imported by Astellas Pharma. This drug, known generically as celecoxib, has been available in the U.S. since 1999 and today is marketed in over 100 countries. (Click here for more )
"Announcement of the Launch of the Selective COX-2 Inhibitor Celecox Tablets in Japan"
Japan Corporate News Network (06/11/07)
Scientists Identify Previously Undetected Drug Resistant Forms of HIV (India)
Yale University Prof. Michael Kozal and his team have discovered several uncommon, drug-resistant strains of HIV. By utilizing a new type of gene sequencing, the researchers were able to spot drug resistant strains far earlier than was possible using older methods. The study examined the viral makeup of 258 candidates by using 454 Life Science's Genome Sequencer? and Ultra Deep Sequencing technology to identify forms of HIV that made up less than one percent of a patient's viral load. Previous forms of analysis could only expose drug resistant strains that composed at least 20 percent of a subject's total virus population. (Click here for more )
"Scientists Identify Previously Undetected Drug Resistant Forms of HIV"
Hindustan Times (06/16/07)
Pfizer Agrees to Invest US$300 Mln in Joint R&D With S. Korea (South Korea)
Pfizer has signed a preliminary deal with South Korea's government to invest $300 million in joint drug research and development, from animal testing to clinical research projects, over the next five years. The research will be conducted at various local centers in South Korea through 2012. If finalized, Pfizer's deal will make it the single largest research-and-development foreign investor in South Korea. (Click here for more )
"Pfizer Agrees to Invest US$300 Mln in Joint R&D With S. Korea "
Yonhap News (06/13/07)
We Are Still Not Independent of Foreign Drug Firms (Phillipines)
The Philippines has the second most expensive pharmaceutical drug prices in Asia behind Japan, far higher than prices found in China, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, and other Asian nations, writes Neal Cruz. One main reason is that the Philippines awards brand-name drugs 25-year exclusive patents, and many people in the country cannot afford Western-level or Japan-level prices. In addition, foreign firms won 2,097 patents in the Philippines between 2001 and 2005, while native drug companies won a single patent. In terms of pricing, hypertension drug Norvasc sells for 41.41 pesos per 5-mg tablet in the Philippines. In India the same drug by the same company sells for 5.77 pesos per tablet. A Ventolin inhaler for asthmatics costs 315 pesos in the Philippines and 126.78 pesos in India. The Philippines has a 85 billion peso drug market. The government should make a greater effort to import low-cost medicines, and should boost funding for Philippine International Trading to import and produce low-cost drugs, argues Cruz. (Click here for more )
"We Are Still Not Independent of Foreign Drug Firms"
Asian Journal (06/12/07) Cruz, Neal
China Biopharma to Acquire Beijing Tiancheng Haixin (China)
China Biopharma in Beijing will purchase Beijing Tiancheng Haixin Pharmaceutical in full to help expand its operations and license-coverage into Northern China. (Click here for more )
"TFN News Briefing: Mergers and Acquisitions Highlights"
Hemscott Online (06/13/07)
India Sees Possibility of Economic Ties with Indonesia (Indonesia)
India External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee visited Indonesia for two days beginning on June 17 to strengthen India-Indonesia bilateral ties and trade. Mukherjee plans to meet with his Indonesian counterpart. They will discuss pharmaceutical industry cooperation, as well as various economic and cultural exchanges. (Click here for more )
"India Sees Possibility of Economic Ties with Indonesia"
Hindu (06/18/07)
