WuXi Makes Deal To Develop Therapeutic Antibody Candidates

\September 9, 2012|China National Biotec Group, a unit of China's sprawling state-owned pharmaceutical giant, Sinopharm Group, will seek to raise up to 10 billion RMB ($1.6 billion) in a Hong Kong IPO. The company was given an OK to stage its previously announced IPO by Hong Kong's environment ministry today. It still needs the blessing of the China Securities Regulatory Commission before it can proceed. China National Biotech is the country's largest provider of vaccines and blood products. No date for the offering has been released so far.Triplex International Biosciences (China) Co., a Xiamen maker of medical diagnostic reagents and instruments, received a $50 million capital infusion from private-equity firm RRJ Capital. According to unnamed sources, the investment will buy a stake in Triplex that is somewhere in the 11% to 19% range. Triplex makes diagnostic tests for hepatitis B and C and various forms of cancer. RRJ Capital is based in Hong Kong and Singapore.

CRO/CMO News WuXi PharmaTech (NYSE: WX) and Open Monoclonal Technology of California reached an agreement that allows WuXi to use OMT's OmniRat, a transgenic rat, to develop therapeutic antibody candidates for WuXi's clients (see story). According to the two companies, OmniRat generates fully human antibodies with great specificity, affinity and manufacturability. It eliminates time-consuming humanization of traditional mouse-derived antibodies and the need for optimization of lead candidates using phage display technology.

Company NewsChina Medical Technologies Inc. (CMEDQ.OB), a company that makes diagnostic products, has no assets anywhere in the world, outside of perhaps the Cayman Islands, according to an official liquidator of the company (see story). In the year ended March 31, 2011, China Medical reported revenues of $129 million and cash reserves of $172 million. During the last year, the company has "gone dark" - it has not made any of its required filings, nor has it made any of its regular debt payments.

Trials and ApprovalsDainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. of Osaka, Japan submitted an imported drug registration application to the SFDA in China for amrubicin HCI, an antibiotic, as a treatment for small cell cancer. The drug has been approved for use in Japan since 2002, where it is called Calsed. Dainippon Sumitomo has completed a Phase III trial of the drug among China patients.