SHANGHAI – In China, it is often said there is more venture capital (VC) money sloshing around than there are good assets, or companies in which to invest. That poses an interesting conundrum for VCs: They see the sizable money-making potential in China – given the increasing market demands of a rapidly aging population with significant unmet medical needs – but face a lack of readymade investment vehicles to fund. Read More

HONG KONG – Even as Asian markets wobble and investors scrutinize every move, Chinese drugmaker Yichang HEC Changjiang Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., which focuses on developing, manufacturing and selling antiviral medicines, launched an IPO in Hong Kong Monday looking to raise as much as HK$1.67 billion (US$215 million). Read More

HONG KONG – The chill of a wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign in China that has led to some very high-profile arrests spread with news that Guo Guangchang, the chairman of Fosun International Ltd., may have been snared in a corruption investigation. Shares of its subsidiary, Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. (HKEX:2196, SS:600196), plunged more than 12 percent Monday on the Hong Kong stock exchange and about 4 percent in Shanghai. Read More

HONG KONG – Marking another step forward for South Korea's leading biosimilar developer, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) approved domestic sales of Samsung Bioepis Co. Ltd.'s Renflexis (infliximab), a biosimilar of Johnson & Johnson's Remicade (infliximab). This is the second marketing approval for the company this year. Read More

Akebia Therapeutics Inc.'s president and CEO, John Butler, told investors during a Monday conference call that it was the company's goal to find a Japanese partner for phase III-ready vadadustat, an oral therapy for the treatment of anemia related to chronic kidney disease (CKD), by the end of 2015. With two weeks to spare, the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm inked a deal with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. (MTPC) that Butler said hits the target, "both strategically and financially." Read More

SHANGHAI – Wuxi Pharmatech (Cayman) Inc., a new breed of contract R&D organization, has completed the privatization process, requesting its stocks to stop trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 10. Wuxi's chairman and chief executive, Ge Li, along with a consortium of private-equity investors paid $3.3 billion in cash to complete the deal. Wuxi first listed in the U.S. in 2007. Read More

HONG KONG — A small molecule has been shown to be capable of breaking down amyloid beta deposits in a study of the brains of mice exhibiting the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD), an important finding that may lead to the development of new treatments for the different stages of AD, according to the results of a study by Korean researchers. Read More

SHANGHAI – Beijing-based Beigene Co. Ltd. has shared positive phase I results for BGB-3111, a targeted small-molecule BTK inhibitor to treat B-cell malignancies that Beigene execs believe has the potential to become best in class, beating out ibrutinib (Imbruvica, Pharmacyclics Inc./Johnson & Johnson), the only BTK inhibitor currently on the market in the U.S. and Europe. Read More