PharmAsia News

Keryx Licenses Japanese Rights For Zerenex To Japan Tobacco In $100 Million Deal

Keryx Biopharmaceuticals got a major boost Sept. 26 in its effort to bring the Phase II hyperphosphatemia candidate Zerenex to the worldwide market by signing a licensing agreement potentially worth up to $100 million with Japan Tobacco and its subsidiary, Torii Pharmaceutical.

Weekly Roundup: Sept. 25, 2007

• Pfizer Japan Staffers To Buy Out Research Lab From U.S. Parent (Japan)
• Suven, US Firm to Develop Cardiovascular Drugs (India)
• Indian Drug Cos Eye US' Par Pharma (India)
• More Exemption to Pharma Companies for R&D (India)
• Blow to Ranbaxy Drug Research Plans (India)
• Vietnam Cures Obesity With Silicon Balls (Vietnam)
• Banyu President Quits; Merck VP To Serve As Interim Boss (Japan)
• AstraZeneca Set to Buy More Chinese Drugs (China)
• China Considers 24-Hour Deadline for Recall of Seriously Harmful Drugs (China)
• BioMarin: Rights To Kuvan Data Licensed To Asubio Pharma (Japan)
• Malaysian Firm to Sign $2 Million Deal With India's Avestha (Malaysia)
• Eastern Medicine Goes West (China)
• Group Hit Over Suspect Funding (Japan)

Sanofi-Aventis To Work With Chinese Experts In Cancer Stem-Cell Research

SHANGHAI – Sanofi-Aventis will expand its footprint in China by collaborating with Tianjin’s Institute of Hematology and Blood Diseases Hospital (IHBDH) in the field of cancer stem cells, the French drug maker announced Sept. 14.

Contract Manufacturer Sigma-Aldrich Looks Toward China To Lower Costs

SHANGHAI – Sigma-Aldrich will expand its contract manufacturing business into China with a $25 million investment in a new Asia-Pacific manufacturing hub in Wuxi New District Park (WND), the St. Louis-based manufacturer announced Sept. 12.

Astellas Responds To "Approvable" Letter For Prograf MR Kidney Transplant Claim

Astellas Pharma has responded to an FDA "approvable" letter for use of the once-daily immunosuppressant Prograf MR (tacrolimus modified-release) to prevent rejection of kidney transplants, the Japanese firm announced Sept. 19.

Sosei Considers Future Of Fibromyalgia Candidate AD 337 After Failed Phase II Trial

Tokyo-based Sosei Group is not ready to give up on its fibromyalgia candidate AD 337 after a Phase II study failed to meet its primary endpoint, the firm announced Sept. 18.

Artisan, Singapore's A-Bio Join Forces On Recombinant Sepsis Candidate

Artisan Pharma and Singapore-based A-Bio Pharma have established a relationship under which the Asian firm will provide process development, scale-up and manufacturing support for Artisan's investigational recombinant protein ART-123, the firms announced Sept. 17.

Weekly Roundup: Sept. 17, 2007

• GoM on Pharma Policy Meets Industry, Consumer Bodies (India)
• Local Pressure Shores Up Drug Firms (India)
• Step Forward for Access to Off-Patent Medicines (New Zealand)
• All Eyes on China Drug Safety (China)
• China Withdraws Licenses of 328 Medical Apparatus Manufacturers (China)
• Most Problematic Leukemia Drugs Recalled (China)
• Eli Lilly Will Start Selling Cialis Impotency Pill in Japan (Japan)
• Pharmacists Against Three-Month Orientation for Drug Retailers (Nepal)
• Business Alliance on the New Radiopharmaceutical 'Metastron Injectable' (Japan)
• Indonesia to Start Producing Tamiflu (Indonesia)
  Chili Pepper Compound May Help Protect Stomach Walls From Helicobacter Bacteria (South Korea)
• Pig-Cell Implants Gain Approval (New Zealand)
• Shin-Etsu Chemical to Build New Cellulose Plant in Germany (Japan)
• New Body to Streamline Drug Licensing, Imports (India)

Insider Analysis: India’s Indecision – How To Provide Pharma Companies With Clinical Trial Data Exclusivity

By: Nathan A. Evans and Seth I. Heller, Finnegan, Henderson, Washington, D.C.

AstraZeneca Opens Clinical Research Facility In China

SHANGHAI – AstraZeneca opened its first Chinese Clinical Pharmacology Unit (CPU) Sept. 4, partnering with Peking University on a facility that will focus on Phase I research of therapies targeting infections, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.