The latest news from Chinese pharma and biotech, including BMS’ attempts to pull out of its Abraxane supply deal with local player BeiGene; a conversation with Qihan Biotech CEO Luhan Yang who is aiming to produce the first pig organs that can be successfully transplanted into humans; and the Republican Party senators in the US calling for the Biden administration to blacklist Chinese biotech firms completely amid security fears.
Bristol Myers wants to pull out of its Abraxane deal in China. BeiGene says no way (Endpoints)
A year and a half after Chinese officials ordered BeiGene to stop selling Bristol Myers Squibb’s Abraxane in the wake of an alarming inspection of a US facility, the manufacturing issues at the root of the import suspension still appear unresolved.
And Bristol Myers wants to axe the Abraxane supply deal altogether.
But BeiGene, which is currently in arbitration proceedings against its Big Pharma partner, won’t let it off the hook so easily.
The gene-editing engineer working to boost expertise in China (Nature)
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02732-y
Luhan Yang is the chief executive of Qihan Biotech in Hangzhou, China, which aims to produce the first pig organs that can be successfully transplanted into humans. She also aims to foster innovative biomedical research in her home country. She tells Nature about her career spent between the United States and China, how her business has had to pivot, and her stance on the ethics of gene editing.
Dr Reddy’s becomes the first Indian company to launch an anti-cancer drug in China (Business Today India)
Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories has become the first Indian pharmaceutical company to launch an anti-cancer drug in the Chinese market, India’s ambassador to China Vikram Misri said in a tweet on October 13.
“Some good news this week – a breakthrough for the Indian pharmaceutical industry in China as Abiraterone by Dr Reddy’s becomes the first anti-cancer drug from India to enter the Chinese market,” Misri tweeted.
Improving Readiness for Volume-Based Procurement in China (PharmExec.com)
https://www.pharmexec.com/view/improving-readiness-for-volume-based-procurement-in-china
Volume-based procurement (VoBP) has been gathering momentum in China, both at national and regional levels. Major pharmaceutical players stand to see large impacts on their branded generics portfolio, and need to move fast to improve organizational and system readiness.
Sen. Cotton, Rep. Gallagher call on Biden admin to blacklist Chinese biotech companies (Fox Business)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/cotton-gallagher-biden-admin-blacklist-chinese-biotech
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., are demanding the Biden administration add Chinese biotechnology companies to the U.S. government’s economic blacklist, arguing that China intends to use biotechnology for military purposes against U.S. interests.
“The Chinese Communist Party will stop at nothing to steal Americans’ most private information – including their DNA,” Cotton told Fox News in a statement. “Blacklisting Chinese biotechnology companies will help counter the CCP’s privacy invasion and strengthen our national security.”
