SHANGHAI – Sciclone Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Foster City, Calif., will pay $12.8 million to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) when its international subsidiaries reportedly increased sales by making improper payments to health care professionals employed at state health institutions in China. Read More

SHANGHAI – Cayman-registered Hutchison China Meditech Ltd. has updated its SEC F-1 filing for a third time since it announced its intention to go public in the U.S. under the stock ticker HCM. There is a wealth of financial and scientific data to pore over, as one of China’s first biotechs Hutchison has a multipronged business that includes 19 active studies for seven clinical-stage therapies for oncology and immunological diseases, licensing deals with big pharma and diversified commercial operations for prescription and OTC drugs. But the one item still missing from the prospectus is a share price. Read More

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., of Hyderabad, India, said the FDA approved its drug-device product to treat acute migraines, with or without aura, for adults with unmanaged symptoms, who have been receiving other treatments. Zembrace Symtouch (sumatriptan succinate), a prefilled, ready-to-use, single-dose disposable autoinjector. is not recommended for those younger than 18. The product will be marketed in the U.S. by Promius Pharma, which is wholly owned by Dr. Reddy’s. Read More

Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Aliso Viejo, Calif., part of Tokyo-based Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., named Rohan Palekar president and CEO. Palekar joined Avanir in March 2012 as senior vice president and chief commercial officer and was named executive vice president and chief operating officer in March 2015. Read More

HYDERABAD, India – Indian companies, backed by the government, are making a strong push to become world-class biosimilar manufacturers. And they might have a shot at that status if they can overcome chronic problems with quality control, limited funding and the fact that making big molecule biologics can be much more difficult than developing and manufacturing the small-molecule generics that long powered the country’s pharmaceutical industry. Read More

TOKYO – Japanese biopharmaceutical companies are bracing for tough years ahead, as cuts in the costs of medicine at home and issues of getting new drugs to the market begin to bite. For some, the response is to step up development of new drugs. Read More

HONG KONG – Despite a bearish market, biopharma companies in China are looking to tap new funds or investors. And a nascent bidding war for one of the country’s best known vaccine makers is a case in point. Read More

TOKYO – Japan’s Nitto Denko Corp., which produces everything from electronics to chemicals, will spin off a small biopharmaceutical unit on April 1. Kageshi Maruyama, who will become president of the new company, told BioWorld Asia the decision was made to establish Nitto Biopharma Inc. to allow the company to operate in the market with more flexibility. Read More

HONG KONG – A protein identified in the dengue virus by Dutch researchers could represent a promising new target for the development of an antiviral drug against dengue fever, a vaccine and effective treatment for which both remain elusive, report researchers from Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Read More