BMP Sunstone Corporation (NSDQ: BJGP) and Pfizer China (NYSE: PFE) have formed a strategic partnership to distribute and promote Depo-Provera (Medroxy-progesterone Acetate), a Pfizer product used to treat endometriosis, in China. Endometriosis is a medical condition in women of childbearing age that can cause significant pain. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

The partnership is interesting because Pfizer has its own drug distribution network in China. But the big pharma decided that in this niche, it could do better by forming an alliance with BMP Sunstone, which has an established line of women’s and infant medical products. BMP acquired the products by buying Sunstone in 2007, which made and distributed the Hao Wawa (Good Baby) brand for children's healthcare and Kang Fu Te (Comfort) for women's healthcare. After the acquisition, BMP became known as BMP Sunstone.

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group (NYSE: SCR) has reached an agreement to acquire the manufacturing license of Rosuvastatin from Tianjin Tianda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Rosuvastatin, a statin drug, is marketed as Crestor by AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) as a treatment for high cholesterol. Simcere will acquire equity in Tianda to gain control of the manufacturing license, though specifics of the transaction were not disclosed.

In a statement, Mr. Jinsheng Ren, Chairman and CEO of Simcere, characterized the relationship between Simcere and Tianda as a “joining of forces.” He also expects that Simcere’s marketing ability will increase the sales of the drug, which Simcere will be manufacturing.

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) announced it would close six out of its 20 R&D facilities around the globe as part of its post-Wyeth-acquisition consolidation. Some employees will be transferred to other facilities, while others will be let go. Pfizer did not disclose how many of its R&D staff would be fired, though it said R&D square footage would be reduced by 35%. The company’s Shanghai R&D operation was not affected by the reorganization.

After the changes, Pfizer will have five major R&D centers: Cambridge, Mass.; Groton, Conn.; Pearl River, N.Y.; La Jolla, Calif.; and Sandwich, U.K. There are three additional “research-oriented laboratories” with specialized research capabilities: monoclonal antibody discovery in San Francisco, regenerative medicine in Cambridge, UK, and research and development activities in Shanghai, China. The Shanghai facility was given the least specific mission of the three.

China Medical Technologies (NSDQ: CMED) received SFDA approval for its Leukemia BCR/ABL fusion gene detection FISH Probe. The probe uses DNA probes to detect Philadelphia translocation, a chromosomal abnormality associated with three forms of leukemia. Detecting Philadelphia translocation is a critical diagnosis and prognosis tool for selecting the different treatment protocols appropriate for chronic myelogenous leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myelogenous leukemia.

At this point, China Medical Technology has received SFDA approvals for all the major FISH probes it acquired as part of the FISH business in March 2007 (HER-2 FISH Probe, Prenatal FISH Probe, Cervical Cancer FISH Probe, Bladder Cancer FISH Probe and Leukemia BCR/ABL FISH Probe).

China life science news last week was dominated by stories of substantial foreign investments in China’s pharmaceutical sector. The Swiss biopharma Novartis (NVS) led the way, with nearly $1.4 billion in capital commitments to three separate initiatives in China. The company clearly feels that China represents growth – and Novartis has added significantly to its R&D, technical expertise, vaccine and marketing efforts there.

In its most spectacular investment, Novartis will begin a five-year, $1 billion China initiative with two aims: the company will dramatically increase its investment in its China R&D facility, and it will seek to make China one its top three markets worldwide (see story). The investment will increase the size of the company’s Shanghai R&D center from its current employee count of 160 to over 1,000 eventually. At that size, China will rank with Novartis’ R&D facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Only the company’s home research facility in Basel, Switzerland will be larger.

Biostar Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BSPM.OB) has completed a private placement that raised $3.6 million in new capital. Biostar will use the proceeds to complete its new raw materials processing facility. By taking its raw material production in house, Biostar will lower costs and ensure its product quality. Biostar plans to sell excess raw materials to other pharmaceutical companies in the Shaanxi province.

For their $3.6 million, investors received 2,060,000 shares of Series B convertible preferred stock, which are comprised of the right to convert 1-for-1 into Biostar common and warrants to purchase 500,000 additional shares. The warrants are exercisable for a period of five years at an exercise price of $3.00 and include a call provision. Biostar is currently trading at a price of $2.40. Disregarding the additional value of the warrants, the investors paid just $1.75 for their shares, a 27% discount.

Novartis (NYSE: NVS) continued its mega-investments in China by announcing it will spend $250 million to expand its global technical center in Changshu, and it will also pay $125 million to buy a 85% stake in a privately held China vaccine company, Zhejiang Tianyuan. Tuesday, Novartis said it would spend $1 billion over the next five years to expand its R&D facility in Shanghai, one of the institutions around the world that comprise the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR).

Located outside of Suzhou, the Changshu Technical R&D Center focuses on the process and analytical R&D of innovative drugs. The provenance of the center includes both the substance and the manufacturing of the drugs.

Roche (RHHBY.PK) has opened a new $500 million biologics manufacturing facility in Singapore in the Tuas Biomedical Park. The site contains two buildings, one dedicated to producing Lucentis, a treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration, while the other will make Avastin, a targeted cancer therapy. Both projects were initiated by Genentech, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Roche.

The project, which operates under the name Roche Singapore Technical Operations, employs 330 skilled workers. It is Roche’s first biologics manufacturing site in the Asia-Pacific region.

Novartis (NYSE: NVS) of Switzerland will begin a five-year, $1 billion China initiative with two aims: the company will dramatically increase its investment in its China R&D facility, and it will seek to make China one its top three markets worldwide. The comments were made by Novartis’ CEO, Daniel Vasella, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

According to Vasella, the investment will increase the size of the company’s Shanghai R&D center from its current employee count of 160 to over 1,000 total staff members. At that size, China will rank with Novartis’ R&D facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Only the company’s home research facility in Basel, Switzerland will be larger.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (SVA) will move the home for its stock listing from the NYSE Amex to the NASDAQ Global Market. The reason given for the change was “greater liquidity.” Target day for the transfer is November 16. Although most NASDAQ companies use a four-letter symbol, Sinovac will be allowed to keep its current three-letter identifier, SVA, so the new listing will not have a great effect on most investors.

Sinovac makes vaccines, most of which are sold in China. Its Healive vaccine for hepatitis B is the company’s mainstay product, though it has generated a great deal of news during the last six months with its H1N1 swine flu vaccine and the spillover of interest into its seasonal flu vaccine as well.

NeoStem, Inc. (NBS) announced it has closed its acquisition of China Biopharmaceuticals Holdings, Inc. (CHBP.OB). China Biopharma’s sole asset is a 51% stake in Suzhou Erye Pharmaceutical Co., a 50-year old pharmaceutical company that expects to generate $60 million in revenue and net income of $12 million in 2009. The deal has been in the works for most of the past year. NeoStem is a stem cell storage company based in the US, while Suzhou Erye Pharma boasts a portfolio of 100 products on seven cGMP lines that it markets in China.

NeoStem needs revenue. The company reported just $136,000 of sales in the last 12 months and negative EBITDA of almost $11 million. After a capital infusion (Suzhou Erye was a contributor), NeoStem’s cash balance was a healthy $10.5 million on the company’s most recent reporting date.

Is consolidation the new theme in China’s fragmented CRO sector? Over the past five to ten years, an almost bewildering array of new CROs has sprung into existence. Many of them have teamed up with others to provide a broader level of services. But last week, in a surprise announcement, PPD, Inc. (NSDQ: PPDI), a worldwide $2.6 billion CRO with headquarters in the US, announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Excel PharmaStudies (see story).

Excel is a China-based CRO specializing in Phase II-IV clinical trials. Founded in 2000, the company has offices in 15 China cities and over 300 employees. It has worked with more than 120 pharmas and biotech companies. PPD said the purchase will add capacity and expertise in China, while also increasing its employee count and client base in the Asia Pacific region. Unfortunately, financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The question now becomes whether this transaction is a one-off or the harbinger of a trend toward consolidation, a trend that results in larger, more dominant CRO enterprises.

Tianyin Pharmaceutical, Co. (TPI) has formed a joint venture with Sichuan Mingxin Pharmaceutical Co. to produce macrolide antibiotics, such as azithromycin, clarithromycin and roxithromycin. Tianyin will own 77% of the JV, which will be known as Sichuan Jiangchuan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Although Tianyin was historically focused on TCM products, it received its first SFDA approval for an antibiotic, Azithromycin Dispersible Tablets, in 2008.

The new JV, Sichuan Jiangchuan, will be tasked with managing research and development activities, while simultaneously manufacturing and selling macrolide antibiotic APIs.

China Medicine Corporation (CHME.OB) has acquired Guangzhou LifeTech Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., a producer of pharmaceuticals products and TCMs, for 57 million RMB ($8.3 million) in cash plus the assumption of 89.8 million RMB ($13.2 million) in debt. China Medicine appraised LifeTech’s assets at 174 million RMB ($25.6 million), including manufacturing facilities and a portfolio of 39 TCM and Western medicine products.

The purchase moves China Medicine further away from its drug distribution roots and deeper into the business of producing pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Many of its offerings are manufactured by other companies. China Medicine is also developing an animal feed additive.

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group (NYSE: SCR), a China company that makes branded generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals, now controls a majority 50.77% of its vaccine subsidiary, Jiangsu Yanshen Biological Technology Stock Co., Ltd. Simcere bought its original 37.5% stake in Jiangsu Yanshen in May 2009.

Thursday, the company announced it has acquired 74.49% of ChinaVax, a Cayman Islands company whose sole asset is a 13.27% stake in Jiangsu Yanshen. Financial details of the new transaction were not disclosed.

Sinovac Biotech (SVA) has received a very large order for 5.2 million doses of its H1N1 vaccine, Panflu.1. This is the third order Sinovac has received from various official China agencies, bringing the total to 11.5 million doses. Of the 5.2 million doses in the latest agreement, 2.9 million will be allocated to various provincial and municipal authorities, while the remaining 2.3 million will be placed in the national stockpiling plan of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Sinovac must complete delivery of 2.9 million doses to the appointed provincial and municipal governments by the end of this year.

PPD, Inc. (NSDQ: PPDI) announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Excel PharmaStudies, Inc., a China-based CRO specializing in Phase II-IV clinical trials. Founded in 2000, Excel has offices in 15 China cities and over 300 employees. It has worked with more than 120 pharmas and biotech companies. PPD said the purchase will add capacity and expertise in China, while also increasing its employee count and client base in the Asia Pacific region. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

China entrepreneurs have been very successful in creating CROs of various types over the past ten years. As capacity grows, consolidation seems almost inevitable, and PPD, which does not have a major presence in China, found a way to make a significant inroad into the sector with a single deal. Excel was named the “Asia Pacific Clinical Research Organization of the Year” by Frost & Sullivan in April 2009.

For Sanofi-Aventis, the JV will provide an entry into China’s OTC market. Sanofi-Aventis will have the majority share in the JV. No other financial details were disclosed.

Sanofi-Aventis and Minsheng already share a Hangzhou-based JV. In May of this year, Sanofi announced it would invest 270 million RMB ($40 million) to build a new pharmaceutical packaging plant for the JV in Hangzhou Binjiang Hi-Tech Industry Development Zone. The new facility will also house the joint venture, called Hangzhou Sanofi-Aventis Minsheng Pharmaceutical. The plant, which will be completed in 2012, will have the capacity to produce 160 million packages.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (SVA) has received a Certificate of Approval to distribute its swine flu vaccine, PANFLU.1, in Mexico, the first swine flu vaccine to be registered there. However, before vaccine can be shipped to Mexico, China’s government must approve the export. Sinovac is in the middle of filling a 6.3 million dose order of PANFLU.1 for Beijing and the national government. It expects to complete delivery of 4.5 million doses by the end of October.

PANFLU.1 will be distributed in Mexico by Laboratorios Imperiales S.A. de C.V., who also helped in the Mexican registration process. Sinovac established its relationship with them in 2005. Sinovac has also applied for approval of its seasonal flu vaccine, Anflu, in Mexico.

Disclosure: none.