HONG KONG – With its latest deal to market vitamin D3 in Greater China, Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd. is continuing along a growth path that has helped the company more than triple its share price in three years.

On Sept. 8, Hong Kong-based Lee's Pharm (HKSE: 0950) and Pisa, Italy-based Abiogen Pharma SpA jointly announced a second deal this year. Abiogen is a privately owned pharmaceutical company focused on bone metabolism and some rare diseases.

Under terms of the agreement, Abiogen granted Lee's Pharm an exclusive license and the right to register, import, market, distribute and sell its Thorens Cholecalciferol products, including oral drops, oral solutions and solutions for injection in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) is an essential molecule that behaves like a hormone and coordinates various physiological functions. Its classic role is in the bone mineralization process. Cholecalciferol is used to prevent and treat vitamin D deficiency. A lack of vitamin D can cause life-threatening conditions and is often associated with kidney disease.

More than half of the world's population typically has a shortage of vitamin D. And the most effective way of dealing with this shortage is to take more vitamins through one method or another, pills or injections, for example.

"Deficiency of vitamin D is a global silent epidemic. We have the means to address this threat, and we should start in the most populated countries of the world," said Massimo Di Martino, president and CEO of Abiogen, in a statement.

Benjamin Li, Lee's CEO, said vitamin D deficiency is a "growing problem, especially in patients on dialysis."

Kidney disease often leads to lower levels of vitamin D.

"The availability of Cholecalciferol will certainly strengthen Lee's presence in the dialysis area where the group's leading product has been helping the improvement of quality of life of dialysis patient," said Li in a statement.

Lee's also distributes Carnitene, an in-licensed product with both amino acid and vitamin properties.

With a focus on Greater China, Lee's has been growing rapidly and steadily over the last half-decade. The company markets and distributes both in-licensed drugs and its own products throughout greater China.

Its strategic shareholder, Sigma Tau Group, an Italian research-based international pharmaceutical company has enhanced the company's R&D capability.

Lee's originally went public in 2002 with an initial public offering (IPO) on the Growth Enterprise Market of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it placed 90 million shares at HK$0.40. Eight years later the company moved to the main board, where its shares closed at HK$4.05 on the first day of trading on May 14, 2010.

In the last few years, the company has moved from strength to strength, taking a careful approach to expansion and focusing on areas that all but guarantee sales. Lee's focuses on areas like cardiovascular and infectious diseases, dermatology, oncology, gynecology and ophthalmology. The company has 14 products currently in the market in Mainland China and more than 30 products in different development stages.

Lee's share price has risen more than 65 percent in the last year alone from HK$6.40 on Sept 10, 2013, to HK$10.58 on Sept 8, 2014. Three years ago, the company was trading at less than HK$3.

Vitamin D3 is the company's first major product for dialysis but it does not represent the first deal with Abiogen.

"We had worked with Abiogen many years ago and continued our partnership this year," Vivian Fung, assistant to the director at Lee's told BioWorld Today.

In April, the two companies announced plans to market Attila (sodium neridronate) in Greater China. Attila is used to treat two rare disease indications. The first is Osteogenesis Imperfecta, more commonly known as brittle bone disease. The second is complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), also known as algodistrophy.

Attila is in the market in 32 European countries under the trade name Nerixia.

On May 12, Lee's also announced that it would team up with Scinopharm Taiwan to jointly develop and produce Fondaparinux (an anti-thrombotic agent) and Travoprost and Bimatoprost (two prostaglandin derivative drugs for glaucoma treatment).

"We will continue work with partners globally to introduce leading treatments into Greater China," said Fung.

She said Lee's will continue to focus on the Greater China market at the moment and has no intention to expand into other Asia markets.