Tasly enriches foreign portfolio

Tianjin-based Tasly Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd is revving up efforts to boost the introduction of overseas counterparts' products to China.

The company inked a licensing agreement with Japanese EA Pharmaceutical Co Ltd on Wednesday, giving it the rights to develop, produce and commercialize EA's new kidney disease treatment medicine, a drug that treats enlargement of one or more of the parathyroid glands caused by end-stage renal impairment and dialysis.

The total value of the deal is $24 million plus royalties and Tasly will pay $3 million to initiate the project and participate in the third phase of clinical tests and research with EA.

Tasly also announced that it will buy stock worth $20 million in Australia-based pharmaceutical maker Mesoblast Ltd on Tuesday.

The deal will give Tasly the rights to develop, produce and commercialize Mesoblast's dry cell products targeting the treatment of heart failure.

If the products are approved by the China Food and Drug Administration, Tasly has pledged to pay another $25 million to complete the deal, it said.

"The slew of moves indicates Tasly's resolute determination to enrich its product portfolio by importing foreign drugs, riding on the wave of the country's latest reforms to gradually accept overseas clinical test results for new medicines," said Yan Kaijing, executive chairman of Tasly Pharma.

"This reduces difficulties for us to enter the Chinese market, the No 2 drug market in the world," said Yuji Matsue, chairman of EA Pharma.

Yan said Tasly's collaboration with EA could tackle the challenges in information sharing and unifying research results rapidly.

Chinese people spent 1 billion yuan ($147 million) last year on medical treatment and medicine in foreign countries and the figure will continue to rise in the next five years, according to Analysys, a third-party research consultancy.

Cai Jiangnan, head of the Medical and Policy Management Center at the China Europe International Business School, said China has launched a multidisciplinary treatment system for some diseases; however, its treatment resources are insufficient, which is driving growing interest in overseas treatment and medicines.