The Asia Corner - From the Editors of PharmAsia News July 28, 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...
WASHINGTON – China State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Vice Premier Wang Qishan are in Washington, D.C. this week to meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for the first joint meeting of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. We are keeping our ear to the ground for tidbits of their discussions, but more importantly, we are trying to score invitations to some fancy diplomat dinners.
Sanofi-Aventis beat out GlaxoSmithKline to gain Merieux Alliance's majority stake in India's Shantha Biotechnics. After all that negotiation, PharmAsia News' India bureau examines what Sanofi is gaining from the vaccines manufacturer valued at $750 million (PharmAsia News, July 27, 2009).
China's sweeping health care reforms will lead to the construction of thousands of new hospitals, and the medical device sector stands to make significant market gains. But the reforms may be most beneficial to domestic firms and multinationals that form joint ventures. Check in with PharmAsia News' China bureau to see how companies are preparing (PharmAsia News, July 27, 2009).
It is earnings season, and "emerging markets" may be a buzz word that no shows no signs of waning. PharmAsia News has a thorough roundup of what Pfizer, GSK, Roche and more are telling investors about their emerging markets strategies this quarter (PharmAsia News, July 27, 2009).
[Editor's note: PharmAsia News will host the PharmAsia Summit Oct. 26-28 in San Francisco to discuss best practices and case studies for companies looking to grow R&D pipelines in Asia. Featured speakers include former U.S. FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach and Dr. Reddy's CEO GV Prasad. Click here for more information.]
South Korea plans to penalize companies involved with illegal kickbacks with drug price cuts as great as 20 percent. The plan, scheduled to begin Aug. 1, is drawing criticism from multinationals and domestic firms alike (PharmAsia News, July 24, 2009).
PharmAsia News attended the BioBusiness conference in Taiwan last week, and hears a positive report about the state of intellectual property protection in China (PharmAsia News, July 22, 2009).
- Daniel Poppy
The PharmAsia News team welcomes your feedback on stories we have covered as well as story ideas you would like to see. Email the editors at pharmasia@elsevier.com
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