HONG KONG – The CFDA approved the Roche Group's Actemra (tocilizumab), which targets systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA). The approval marks the entry of the first biologic in the Chinese market for the disease and could lower a long-standing reliance on corticosteroids to deal with the pain of joint inflammation among children. Read More

SHANGHAI – Shanghai-based Generon Corp. Ltd. was acquired by the world's leading manufacturer of vitamin B5 API, Yifan Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., a public company listed in Shenzhen. Yifan has a portfolio of drugs approved in China for gynecology, pediatrics and dermatology, a portion of which are traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) products. Read More

HONG KONG – Celltrion Inc. has much to look forward to in the European market, where perception on biosimilars is shifting for the better. The Congress of the European Crohn's and Colitis Organisation announced its support for switching from reference Remicade (infliximab, Janssen Biotech Inc.), the blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug, to biosimilar infliximab. Read More

TOKYO – Sanofi K.K., the Japanese subsidiary of the French multinational, is aiming to launch more than 20 new drugs in Japan by 2020. Those drugs are expected to be mostly biologics and existing drugs tested for new indications. Read More

SHANGHAI – Acea Biosciences Inc. presented efficacy, safety and tolerability data from its China phase I/II dose-escalation and expansion study of AC0010, a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) at the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC) 2016 in Vienna. Read More

NEW DELHI – Looking to keep up with global trends, Indian pharma has moved to speed up its push toward more digitization, but it has a long way to go before it catches up with advanced countries, pharma industry analysts say. Read More