CHINA: China invests in medical tourism resort

 Medical tourism news23 April 2012  A Chinese town is to create an international medical tourism project for the hot spring resort of Ruzhou. The total investment is ＄400 million. Ruzhou Hot Spring Leisure Resort sits within the hot spring town, 27 kilometres away from Ruzhou city. The hot spring's water is crystal clear and smooth as silk. It contains over 50 salutary microelements and macro elements and is also a rare high-quality mineral water for medical use. Besides hydrotherapy, the resort will offer acupuncture, massages, and ultrasonic therapy. The key target market is from within China, plus visitors from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.  Despite government efforts to ban unapproved stem cell treatments, companies in China still offer them openly. In January, the Chinese Ministry of Health attempted to regulate the unapproved stem-cell tourism business in China, announcing rules such as required registration for organizations using stem cells in the clinic and a halt to any unapproved stem cell treatments. But not a single clinic has registered, and business is still booming.  The clinics, which operate openly offer expensive and unapproved stem cell treatments for Parkinson's disease, diabetes, and autism, among other disorders, and attract thousands of medical tourists from around the world. The Chinese health ministry has made several attempts to ban the treatments, including classifying stem-cell treatments as high risk and requiring the approval of a technical audit board, but they are ignored.  The clinics all claim success in treating patients, but none has published data from controlled clinical trials. The stem-cell clinics are aware of the government regulations. The Ministry of Health is trying to regulate the industry, but internal politics means that the clinics think they can safely ignore the law; particularly those with military or other government backing. 

Taiwan eyes halal food industry via pact with M’sia.

Monday, 23 April 2012   Taiwan wants to venture into the halal food industry and hopes to ink an Economic Cooperation Agreement (ECA) with Malaysia in the near future to export halal foods to all Islamic countries, according to its spokesperson.  "We are hoping that the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Malaysia (MITI) will help us to ink the ECA agreement with Malaysia soon so we can kick-start efforts to export halal foods to members of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC)," said deputy representative for Taipei's economic and cultural office in Malaysia, Lin Min Li at the Taiwan Food Seminar 2012 in Kuala Lumpur.  "The agreement will allow both nations to enjoy reduced customs duties for exports and imports besides other investment advantages," he said.  Lin added that Malaysia was a significant choice "because its halal certification was recognised in OIC countries and that the country was located at the heart of Asia."  The global value for trade of halal foods and non-food products is estimated at US$2.1 trillion (RM6.44 trillion) annually, and the sector has been recognised as the fastest growing global business across the world, according to a government business investment portal.  In addition to halal foods, Taiwan has identified other key areas for future trade collaborations with Malaysia, among others including technology sharing, food packaging, health-related products, international trade promotional programmes and the pharmaceutical sector, according to Lin.  Moving forward, Lin announced that he is "expecting that the bilateral trade between Malaysia and Taiwan will increase to US$16 billion in 2012, a 2.56% increase from US$15.6 billion in 2011". 

Nestle SA's $10 billion bid for Pfizer Inc.'s baby food business aims to strengthen the company's footprint in China. The WSJ's Jake Lee speaks to Isabella Steger about the deal

 "Pfizer Nutrition is an excellent strategic fit and this acquisition underlines our commitment to be the world's leading nutrition, health and wellness company," Nestle Chief Executive Paul Bulcke said in a statement. "Its strong brands and product portfolio, together with its geographic presence will complement our existing infant nutrition business perfectly."  China, one of the few major markets where Nestle doesn't have a leading share, is one of the fastest growing baby food markets in the world, increasing at 21% last year—more than double the global rate, according to Euromonitor International.  Nestle said it expects nearly half of further growth to come from China, but is also pinning its hopes on the region as a whole.  "China is a very important growth market, but Asia overall has similar potential," said Mr. Bulcke.  To win approval from antitrust regulators, Nestle will likely have to divest assets in certain markets where it has a dominant position, according to the people familiar with the matter. The magnitude of any such sales is unclear, and will depend on regulatory authorities in countries where it has a big market share. Mr. Bulcke said it was too early to discuss potential disposals.  " Nestle will work through the regulatory issues with the relevant authorities, but it is premature to say anything more than that," he said.  Edging out Danone came at a cost. Analysts said the deal was expensive, but worth it.  At first look it is expensive, no doubt," said Patrik Schwendimann, an analyst at Zurcher Kantonalbank.  "On the other hand, the Pfizer deal is attractive for Nestle in the long term. Its exposure to emerging markets and profitability are higher than expected," he said.  The deal is Nestle's largest since 2001 when it acquired pet food company Ralston Purina for around $10 billion.  The companies expect the deal to be completed in the first half of next year.  Nestle expects annual cost benefits of around $160 million from the deal, and costs of around $300 million spread over four years to implement them.  Mr. Bulcke said that back-office costs would be the main target for savings, although Nestle would be looking to use the combined sales forces of the two companies. The acquisition was mainly about growth, not generating synergies, he added.  Pfizer's nutrition unit is among the company's most rapidly expanding businesses, but the unit is also among Pfizer's smallest and it lies outside the drug maker's core business of selling prescription medicines. Pfizer had acquired the business as part of its 2009 takeover of U.S. healthcare company Wyeth.  "The sale of the Nutrition business to Nestle is consistent with Pfizer's intention to generate the greatest value for shareholders by maximizing the value-creation potential of our businesses and prudently managing our capital allocation," said Ian Read, Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, in a statement. "Following the completion of this divestiture, we expect to allocate the after-tax proceeds to further share repurchases, or invest in other business- development opportunities, with the return on share repurchases remaining our case to beat."  Pfizer plans to update its financial guidance to reflect the sale along with its first-quarter earnings report May 1. The company, the world's largest drug maker by sales, has been shedding businesses outside its core medicine franchise in part to boost its shares. Last August, it sold its Capsugel unit, which makes drugs in capsule form, to private-equity firm KKR & Co. for $2.4 billion. Some investors have clamored for the sale of even more units, such as its over-the-counter business that sells Advil cold-and-pain medicine and other consumer-health products.

Nestle Buys Pfizer's Baby Food Unit for Nearly $12 Billion

 EUROPE BUSINESS NEWSUpdated April 23, 2012  ZURICH—Global food company Nestle SA NESN.VX -2.89%sealed its biggest deal in more than a decade Monday when it agreed to acquire Pfizer Inc.'s infant nutrition business for $11.85 billion in a move that allows the Swiss firm to take a big leap in market share in the rapidly growing Asian baby food market.  The Swiss food giant beat rival Groupe Danone SA for the Pfizer unit after a months-long auction. For Nestle, the purchase is a way to build its presence in China, one of the largest markets for baby milk products. For Pfizer it marks an important step in its ambition to focus on its core business of developing and selling drugs. The U.S. drugmaker had said in July that it plans to divest the infant-nutrition business as well as an animal-health unit.  Nestle is the global leader in infant nutrition, but it has lacked scale in the rapidly growing Chinese market. The Vevey, Switzerland company, had a 22% share of the $39 billion world-wide market in 2010, ranking ahead of Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. and Danone, according to the most recent data from Euromonitor International, a market-research firm. But in China, it ranked just eighth with 3.7% share of the $8 billion baby food market. Combining its own with that of Pfizer means Nestle jumps to No. 2 in the market with a share of 10.4%, behind Mead Johnson with a 10.6% share and ahead of Danone with a 9.2% share.

CERVEAU: Decouverte de nouvelles cellules souches reparatrices

Ces chercheurs de l'Universite de Lund en Suede ont decouvert un tout nouveau type de cellule souche dans le cerveau, des cellules souches mesenchymateuses (CSM). Non seulement, ces cellules peuvent proliferer et former plusieurs types de cellules differentes mais, surtout, elles peuvent former de nouvelles cellules cerebrales et ont un pouvoir "cicatrisant". Cette decouverte ouvre de nouveaux espoirs pour guerir les maladies et reparer les blessures ou lesions dans le cerveau. Des conclusions presentees dans l'edition du 16 avril de PLoS ONE qui peuvent etre d'ores et deja etre exploitees dans la recherche, des maladies neurodegeneratives a l'AVC.   C'est en analysant des biopsies de tissu cerebral, que ces chercheurs ont identifie ces nouvelles cellules souches situees autour des petits vaisseaux sanguins dans le cerveau. La fonction precise de cette nouvelle cellule n'est pas encore claire, mais ses proprietes plastiques suggerent un grand potentiel. ? Un type similaire de cellule a deja ete identifie dans plusieurs autres organes ou elle peut favoriser la regeneration des muscles, des os, du cartilage et du tissu adipeux?, explique les Drs Patrik Brundin et Jay Van Andel, president de la chaire de recherche sur le Parkinson du Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) et Chef de l'Unite de survie neuronale a l'Universite de Lund.   Ces cellules contribuent a la cicatrisation: Sur les autres organes, les chercheurs ont apporte des preuves claires que ce type de cellules -les cellules souches mesenchymateuses (CSM)- contribue a la cicatrisation des plaies et des lesions. Les scientifiques suggerent que ces proprietes curatives peuvent egalement s'appliquer au cerveau. La prochaine etape sera donc d'essayer de controler et d'ameliorer les proprietes auto-cicatrisantes de ces cellules souches dans le but de developper des therapies ciblees sur une zone specifique du cerveau.   Nos resultats montrent que la capacite des cellules est beaucoup plus importante que nous l'avions initialement pense et que ces cellules sont tres polyvalentes?,  declare le Pr Gesine Paul-Visse, professeur agrege de neurosciences a l'Universite de Lund et auteur principal de l'etude. ? Le plus interessant est leur capacite a former des cellules neuronales, mais elles sont aussi capables de se developper en d'autres types cellulaires ?.   Ces resultats contribuent a une meilleure comprehension de la facon dont fonctionne la plasticite des cellules du cerveau et ouvre de nouvelles possibilites pour renforcer les mecanismes de reparation du cerveau et developper de nouveaux traitements pour reparer le cerveau malade. NB. Un premier essai de therapie cellulaire du cerveau par cellules souches neurales est deja en cours depuis septembre 2011.