SUZHOU, China ­– "Innovation" is a prominent theme in China's life sciences community, but for all the talk about the need to move from generics to novel drugs, focusing on the science without generating results is a wasted effort. That, in short, is a key message emerging from Chinese life science executives and research leaders at the Chinabio Partnering Forum.

SUZHOU, China – Global intellectual property lawyers and consultants are quick to advise U.S. and European biotechs that they need a “China strategy” – guidance that usually generates a response akin to Scarlett O’Hara’s famous “I’ll think about it tomorrow” speech. And who can blame biotechs for procrastinating? They’re beset with the here and now: raising money, managing contract research and manufacturing organizations, submitting grant applications, designing studies, filing patents, meeting with potential partners and seeking consensus with regulators. I had the same skepticism about a hurry-up approach to China. But after networking among some of the 800-plus attendees at...

SUZHOU, China – Venture investing in China's life sciences industry continued a three-year upswing in 2013, according to speakers at the Chinabio Partnering Forum, with more than $1 billion in publicly disclosed deals last year.

SUZHOU, China ­– "Innovation" is a prominent theme in China's life sciences community, but for all the talk about the need to move from generics to novel drugs, focusing on the science without generating results is a wasted effort. That, in short, is a key message emerging from Chinese life science executives and research leaders at the Chinabio Partnering Forum.

SUZHOU, China ­– The mostly Chinese attendees at a partnering boot camp that kicked off the 2014 Chinabio Partnering Forum here on Tuesday got an earful of practical advice, delivered diplomatically, on cross-border partnering from a pharma that has been fostering relationships in the country for more than 40 years.

Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc. and Scynexis Inc. got their initial public offerings (IPO) out the door Friday, but the tiny raise for Aldeyra – nearly half the amount sought in its January filing as Aldexa Therapeutics Inc. – and the brusque greeting for Scynexis shares – off 11 percent from the $10 offering price – suggested May might not put a spring into the step of biotechs entering the public markets.

It was little surprise, after a Feb. 12 Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee meeting that came down squarely against approval, that the FDA delivered a complete response letter (CRL) late Wednesday to The Medicines Co.'s (MDCO) new drug application (NDA) for the intravenous antiplatelet agent cangrelor to reduce thrombotic cardiovascular events.

The potential $725 million acquisition of Ipierian Inc. by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMS) merited less than two minutes in the big pharma's first quarter earnings call Tuesday morning and garnered only a single question from analysts. Still, the deal for the San Francisco-based biotech raised tantalizing questions about the direction of its tau program in the hands of a pharma better known for cardiovascular and oncology drug development.

Despite what Athersys Inc.'s president and chief operating officer B. J. Lehmann called a "high level of optimism" about its stem cell product, Multistem, the company's shares (NASDAQ:ATHX) were sliced in half Monday after it reported that the off-the-shelf cell therapy failed to moderate the severity of disease in patients with treatment-refractory ulcerative colitis (UC).