BOGOTA, Colombia – A deal between Cuban and French vaccine developers looks to tap into Cuba's strength as a vaccine producer while reaching out to markets in Asia and Latin America,

HONG KONG – The FDA has been planning for two years to expand its China office to meet significantly larger demands for inspections in the country. But for two years now, China has failed to approve visas for FDA staff, including inspectors brought in from the U.S.

NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Bedminster, N.J., said the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) granted orphan drug designation to teduglutide to treat short bowel syndrome (SBS). Earlier this year, the MHLW's expert committee on unapproved new drugs and new indications with high medical needs asked NPS Pharma Japan KK to develop teduglutide for adult SBS.

SHANGHAI – Chinese venture capital (VC) investors with funds in Chinese yuan used to have a tough time getting their cash out of the country to make cross-border investments. That is no longer the case. Changes to the rules make it much easier for domestic VCs to convert their renminbi (RMB) funds into foreign currency.

SHANGHAI – In its fourth in-licensing deal this year, Yabao Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., of Suzhou, China, signed a deal with the prestigious MRC Tech, a UK-based nonprofit, to co-develop therapeutics for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

HONG KONG – The anti-diabetic drug, metformin, is a promising candidate for an effective adjunctive host therapy for boosting the efficacy of current tuberculosis (TB) treatments, Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) researchers with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) reported in the Nov. 19, 2014, edition of Science Translational Medicine.

NEW DELHI – The final leg of a court case that will decide the fate of India's ailing public sector vaccine makers will begin next week. At stake is the survival of struggling public sector units (PSUs), originally created to produce inexpensive vaccines for public vaccination programs.

HONG KONG – 3SBio Inc., based in China's northeast city, Shenyang, entered a licensing agreement with Korean biotech company Pharmabcine Inc. to develop, manufacture and market the anti-vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) and kinase insert domain receptor antibody, tanibirumab. The deal could benefit up to 1 million cancer patients in China each year.