Deals and Financings
Shenogen Pharma of Beijing raised $20 million in a series C funding, which the company will use to support a Phase II trial of its lead drug candidate, icaritin, a small molecule drug that targets the estrogen receptor alpha 36. The trial will enroll patients with hepatocellular cancer. The drug is derived from barrenwort, a TCM. The funding was led by Legend Capital and Qiming Weichuang Venture Capital. Investors also received warrants to buy an additional $10 million in shares.
Apexigen, a California antibody company with strong connections to several China pharmas, brought in $20 million in a Series A1 financing. Apexigen was originally the drug development arm of Epitomics, a company built around a rabbit-based platform for developing monoclonal antibodies. Two China companies - Simcere (NYSE: SCR) and 3SBio (NSDQ: SSRX) - have filed with the CFDA to begin clinical trials of Apexigen-discovered drugs.
Zhongyuan Union Stem Cell Bioengineering (SHA: 600645) formed a stem cell JV with Cell Therapy Ltd. of Wales. The JV will focus on developing stem cell therapies for major diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, presumably based on CTL's technology. It plans to build two operational hubs near Shanghai and Beijing, with smaller offices in other China cities. The two firms will share the JV's China revenues equally, while Cell Therapy will have first option on Zhongyuan Union's products outside China.
Sinopharm Group will build a China Biotechnology Research Institute in Wuhan East Lake High-tech Zone, gathering together its existing biotech R&D resources into one location. The facility will be part of a Sinopharm subsidiary, the China Institute of Pharmaceutical Industry. Sinopharm says the Institute will be the largest biotech R&D operation in China, comprising two to three separate buildings. Construction will take three years.
ScinoPharm (TAI: 1789), a Taiwan CRO with expertise in process development and generic API production, formed a strategic alliance with Sundia MediTech Company, the Shanghai CRO. The two companies will collaborate to provide Contract Research and Manufacturing Services (CRAMS) in China. ScinoPharma will participate through its China subsidiary, ScinoPharm Changshu.
Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma will spend $19.5 million to build a new China production facility in Tianjin. The plant will be owned by Tianjin Tanabe Seiyaku, a joint venture in which Mitsubishi holds a 75% stake. Its local partner, Tianjin Lisheng Pharmaceutical Co., owns the remaining 25%. The new facility will be built on the JV's existing site in the Tianjin Economic Development Area.
Komtur Pharmaceuticals, a German clinical trial sourcing company, set up a China JV with HengHeKangJian Pharmaceutical. The JV will build a state-of-the-art distribution center that is compliant with the latest China and international standards. It will offer distribution of clinical trial supplies and sourcing of reference drugs. The JV will also provide commercial distribution of finished pharmaceuticals and medical devices, and will eventually move into pharmaceutical labeling and re-packaging.
Allium Medical ((TASE: ALMD)) of Israel signed up Beijing King Health Investment to distribute the company's urinary tract stents in China. King Health agreed to buy at least $16 million of Allium's stents during the eight-year run of the contract. The two companies expect to launch the urinary stents in 2016, assuming CFDA approval.
Trials and Approvals
A JV consisting of Zoetis (NYSE: ZTS), the recently spun-off animal health subsidiary of Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), and Jilin Guoyuan Animal Health Co. has received marketing approval in China for a new swine vaccine (see story). Rui Lan An™ targets highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (HP PRRS). The JV, which was announced in 2011, will launch the vaccine immediately. Zoetis/Pfizer and Jilin Guoyuan formed the JV to meet the needs of China's livestock producers, particularly the pork industry.
Company News
According to press reports, Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) paid China doctors kickbacks to prescribe its blood pressure drugs (see story). An anonymous whistleblower alleged that the company's representatives paid 1.7 million RMB ($280,000) to over 500 doctors in 79 hospitals - about $500 each. The illegal payments, which were made in November 2007, were billed as research fees or grants, said the whistleblower.
Disclosure: none.
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Taste: There are lots of bagged fries on the market, but for years, Andy Capp's fries have remained the gold standard, one of the rare kinds to have a winning texture. Most fries (including Andy Capp's) and made from processed potato and/or corn, molded into the shape of fries, but this one promised to be different ? made from sliced potato. I opened the bag to find that the fries had a golden yellow color, with areas of skin on some of the edges and ends, which seemed to confirm the promise of sliced potato. They were generally thicker than the regular Andy Capp's, more along the lines of the thickness of Andy Capp's Steak Fries, but with smoother edges and less of a light feel. I tried some, and they were quite nicely crunchy, crisp and loaded with flavor. It was a different crunch than other bagged fries ? and also different than Andy Capp's ? with a denser feel, and quite good. Instead of trying unsuccessfully to copy Andy Capp's like everyone else has, Ruffles did them one better on texture. The cheddar flavor (provided by a generous coating of powder) seemed like cheddar and sour cream, and it was strong and tasty, mixing well with the potato. Impressive. The only negative here was that the bag was filled less than halfway.
Taste: This popcorn looked a lot like caramel corn at first, with a golden color, but a closer look revealed small bits of apple stuck to some of the kernels. The kernels were all individual; none were stuck together. It was hard to tell from looking whether this was kettle corn or coated popcorn, as some of the kernels appeared to have just the slightest amount of sugar, while others were more heavily coated in sugary stuff. I crunched in to find that it was maybe a combination of both, as if they took kettle corn and then added small bits of cinnamon-enhanced apple. The texture varied from somewhat crisp to somewhat mushy, maybe depending on how much of the apple had been added to any given kernel. More crispness would have definitely helped, but the apple and cinnamon taste was quite nice, so this pretty good. It got lots of thumbs-ups from our snackers.Shop: Buy snacks at Amazon.comAroma: Smells like apple sauce. 
