The Asia Corner - From the Editors of PharmAsia News January 27, 2009
In this BioPharma Today feature, the editors of PharmAsia News take a closer look each week at the most important biopharma developments from China, India, Japan and the Pacific Rim.
Read today's features...
January 27, 2009
Just before China began celebrations for the Chinese New Year Jan. 26, China’s Ministry of Health approved part of sweeping health care reforms that will need investments of $124 billion stretching over three years (PharmAsia News, Jan. 22, 2009).
China’s just-launched fast-track review process for certain classes of new drugs marks an advance in the country’s budding support for innovative medicines, but priority reviews might be open only to domestically made products, according to Chinese and American lawyers (PharmAsia News, Jan. 26, 2009).
Big pharma’s eastward journey continues as Abbott opened a new preclinical laboratory in Singapore’s Biopolis Research Park, marking the company’s first pharmaceutical research site in Southeast Asia (PharmAsia News, Jan. 22, 2009).
In Japan, with the appreciation of the Japanese yen against the decline of the U.S. dollar, 2009 could be a very good year for Japanese mergers and acquisitions (PharmAsia News, Jan. 26, 2009).
As Australia celebrates Australia Day, Jan. 26, AusBiotech CEO Anna Lavalle warned that the country’s marked decrease in biotech investments would be devastating for the industry and urged leaders not to turn their backs on biotech at this critical time(PharmAsia News, Jan. 26, 2009).
In India, at the peak of earnings season, Dr. Reddy’s Labs of India announced that it posted a 49 percent increase in revenues on the back of the generic Imitrex (sumatriptan) launch (PharmAsia News, Jan. 20, 2009).
But Ranbaxy, a Daiichi Sankyo affiliate, shocked financial analysts with a higher than expected loss owing to changes in accounting standards and unexpected fluctuations in the foreign exchange rates (PharmAsia News, Jan. 22, 2009).
Daiichi Sankyo encountered a hurdle in its proposal to make an open offer for a 20- percent equity stake in Zenotech Labs. Shareholders of Zenotech Labs pleaded that the open offer price fixed by Daiichi Sankyo is far less than that Ranbaxy paid to acquire 46-percent equity stake a year ago (PharmAsia News, Jan. 20, 2009).
After months of silence, drug major Wockhardt told PharmAsia News it has enough business bandwidth to handle redemptions of its foreign currency convertible bonds worth $110 million expected in September 2009. This came after speculations that Wockhardt will put overseas operations including Pinewood of Ireland and Negma Labs of France on the block (PharmAsia News, Jan. 21, 2009).
