Pharma Marketletter articles from April 2007

Pharma Marketletter archives from April 2007

Japan's Eisai spreads its wings with $325 million acquisition of USA's Morphotek.(Eisai Company Ltd.)
April 2, 2007... In what it describes as a "dramatic leap towards biologic therapeutics," Japan's fourth-largest pharmaceutical company, Eisai, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Pennsylvania, USA-based Morphotek in a cash deal worth $325.0 million....

EC hits out at French pharmacy rules.
April 2, 2007... The European Commission has launched a formal procedure against the French government over its regulation of the pharmacy sector, which Brussels says is out of step with European Union market rules. The Commission has written a warning...

Sanofi's Acomplia gets French reimbursement.(Sanofi-Aventis S.A.)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... French drug major Sanofi-Aventis says that its anti-obesity drug Acomplia (rimonabant), a selective cannabinoid-1 receptor antagonist, has now been included in the list of medicines that are reimbursable by France's Social Security system,...

French health spending on the rise.(Brief article)(Statistical data)
April 2, 2007... The French health fund organization, the CNAM, has confirmed the recent acceleration in health spending. Over the past 12 months, reimbursement rose 3.1% but increased 4% if the hospital sector is discounted. The February increase for general...

Czech patient records.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Czech Health Minister Tomas Julinek has succeeded in getting the country's Chamber of Deputies to pass a measure allowing patients access to their medical records. People will be able to view and copy the records, however, some doctors...

Spanish drug spend rises 9% in February.(Brief article)(Statistical data)
April 2, 2007... Spanish spending on drugs and medicines rose 9.6% in February 2007 over the same year-earlier month to about 960.0 million euros ($1.28 billion). The rise came just ahead of a regime of lower prices which was introduced on March 1. The...

Bogus Canadian web pharmacy's death probe.(Marcia Bergeron)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... A bogus pharmacy, which pretended to be based in Canada, has been held responsible for the death of a Canadian resident who bought drugs via the Internet. The British Columbia Coroners Office announced that Marcia Bergeron, from Quadra Island,...

Thailand tackled by US Chamber of Commerce.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... The US Chamber of Commerce has contacted Thailand's government to demand that its Public Health Ministry establish a dialog with foreign drugmakers and stop using compulsory licensing as a mechanism for breaking patents for antiretroviral and...

PLoS study examines ARV supply in Africa.(Public Library of Science)(Antiretroviral agents)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... The Public Library of Science has published a study of the supply of antiretroviral drugs to sub-Saharan Africa, noting that significant quantities of the drugs are being made available in the region for the first time in the 20-year existence...

Pennsylvania to force drug price transparency.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... The US state of Pennsylvania is debating proposed legislation that would force hospitals and pharmacies to publish their drug prices and hospital payments on-line in order to create more competitive pressure and provide residents who pay per...

FDA chief says biogenerics "similar" not "interchangeable".(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... The US Food and Drug Administration's Commissioner, Andrew von Eschenbach speaking at the recent annual general meeting of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), stated the agency's position that generic versions of...

McClellan slates FDA adverse event reporting.(Mark McClellan)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Mark McClellan, the former US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner who retired last year as the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS, Marketletters passim), has criticized the lack of effectiveness of the...

US labor union targets drugmakers on-line.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Working America, a labor union affiliate of the USA's AFL-CIO, has launched a public web site that allows readers to write about problems they have experienced with health care services, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Health...

Controversy over US flu vacc stock destruction.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... An Associated Press report has opened a controversy in the USA over the practice of routinely destroying the previous season's influenza vaccine stocks, before a June 30 deadline imposed by the Food and Drug Administration, without a new supply...

Satraplatin cuts Pain and PSA level at Ph III.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... USA-based drugmaker Pharmion and Germany's GPC Biotech say that data from a Phase III trial of satraplatin, an anticancer drug that is under assessment as a second-line therapy for hormone-refractory prostate cancer, indicate that the agent...

Avicena starts patient recruitment in PD trial.(parkinson disease)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... California, USA-based biotechnology firm Avicena says that it has initiated patient enrollment in a Phase III trial of its developmental Parkinson's disease treatment PD-02. The trial, which is being sponsored by the National Institute of...

Positive data from trials of MedImmune's FluMist.
April 2, 2007... US drugmaker MedImmune says that data from three key studies of its nasal influenza vaccine FluMist (live influenza vaccine) demonstrate both the drug's efficacy, and a potentially effective model for rapid, large-scale vaccination. ...

Japan and South Korea issue Tamiflu warnings.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Health officials in Japan have ordered the importer of Roche's Tamiflu (oseltamivir) to warn physicians that they should not be prescribing it to teenagers, following reports of psychiatric events linked to the drug. Since the Japanese...

Lilly to invest further $50M to fight MDR-TB.(multi-drug resistant tuberculosis)(Eli Lilly and Co.)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... US drug major Eli Lilly plans to invest an additional $50.0 million in a global partnership to fight Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis. The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership is an international alliance of 14 public and private organizations, including...

VASTox acquires both Daniolabs and Dextra.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Vastox, a biotechnology firm specializing in the use of chemical genomics for drug discovery, has acquired two fellow UK businesses: Daniolabs, a privately-held drug-discovery company, and Dextra Laboratories, a specialist carbohydrate...

InterMune cuts costs: workforce slashed 50%.
April 2, 2007... California, USA-based biotechnology firm InterMune will cut by half its workforce in a bid to save $40.0 million to $50.0 million over a year. The firm plans to make all of the scheduled job cuts, a total of 116 full-time and contract positions...

Beximco starts exporting to Belize.(Beximco Pharmaceuticals)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Bangladeshi drugmaker Beximco Pharmaceuticals, a specialist in the production of generic medications and active pharmaceutical ingredients, says that it has begun exporting drugs to Belize in Central America. The firm explained that the first...

Australia's CSL to up R&D expenditure.(research and development)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Australian drugmaker CSL says that it will increase is R&D expenditure in an effort to broaden its product pipeline. Company chief executive Brian McNamee, who made the announcement, also said that the firm was unlikely to make any further...

GSK to explore Procognia's protein kinase arrays.(GlaxoSmithKline)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Maidenhead, UK-based Procognia has entered into a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline to explore the use of the former's protein function arrays within the GSK drug development processes through a combination of Procognia's functional protein...

Nutra Pharma unit to publish MS research.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Florida, USA-based Nutra Pharma, which is developing drugs for HIV and multiple sclerosis, says that its drug discovery division, ReceptoPharm, has received notification of acceptance of its paper for publication in the Critical Reviews in...

Bentley's Spanish units get approval for tamulosin.(Bentley Pharmaceuticals)(Laboratorios Davur)(Laboratorios Rimafar)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... US specialty drugmaker Bentley Pharmaceuticals says that its subsidiaries, Laboratorios Davur and Laboratorios Rimafar, have received product approval for tamulosin from the Spanish Ministry of Health. Another Bentley affiliate, Laboratorios...

Appeals court reverses decision on Pfizer's Norvasc.
April 2, 2007... The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has issued a decision reversing aElower court ruling upholding global drug giant Pfizer's US patent covering amlodipine besylate, the active ingredient in Norvasc. The drug is Pfizer's second-largest...

Delay in privatization of Antibiotice Iasi.
April 2, 2007... The privatization of Romanian pharmaceutical company Antibiotice Iasi has been delayed but is expected to be completed by the middle of this year, according to the relevant government authorities. However, the drugmaker's general manager has...

Bayer and Novartis in MS drug deal.
April 2, 2007... Recently-formed Bayer Schering Pharma, the new Berlin-based health care unit of Germany's Bayer AG, has acquired from Swiss drug major Novartis a biologics manufacturing facility in Emeryville, California, USA, which is now used to produce what...

Amgen stops Vectibix trial on poor efficacy and AE profile: good news for Erbitux.
April 2, 2007... Amgen has discontinued a study of its cancer drug Vectibix (panitumumab). The world biotechnology major terminated the PACCE trial after the drug demonstrated increased toxicity and inferior efficacy. Last year, the US Food and Drug...

Remicade gets EMEA nod for new indication.(European Medicines Agency )(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Centocor and fellow USA-based drugmaker Schering-Plough say that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has issued a positive opinion recommending the approval of Remicade (infliximab)...

Final US PDUFA recommendations go to Congress; "will boost drug review safety".(United States Prescription Drug User Fee Act)
April 2, 2007... The US Food and Drug Administration recently submitted to Congress its final proposal for reauthorizing the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA IV) after reviewing public comments. The PDUFA, which was first enacted in 1992 and has been...

US FTC settles with "free medicine" firm.(Federal Trade Commission)(My Free Medicine)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... An American company that lured low income consumers with no insurance into spending $199 by making alleged deceptive claims that they would receive free prescription medicines has agreed to settle US Federal Trade Commission charges that its...

US FDA proposes tougher procedures for advisory committee membership.
April 2, 2007... A new draft guidance that would implement a more stringent approach for considering potential conflicts of interest for US Food and Drug Administration advisory committee members and for recommending eligibility for meeting participation, was...

Global pharmaceutical market grew 7% to reach $643 billion, IMS reports.(Industry overview)
April 2, 2007... In 2006, the global pharmaceutical market grew 7.0% at constant exchange rates, to $643,0 billion, according to IMS Health, a leading provider of market intelligence for the sector. A rebound in growth to 8.3% in the USA - fueled by an increase...

Hikma PharmaOs 2006 revenue grew 20.9%.( Hikma Pharmaceuticals)(Financial report)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... The London, UK, Stock Exchange-listed Jordanian drugmaker Hikma Pharmaceuticals achieved revenue growth of 20.9% to $317.0 million for the full year 2006, with particularly strong performances in its branded and injectable businesses, where...

Controversy over US flu vacc stock destruction.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... An Associated Press report has opened a controversy in the USA over the practice of routinely destroying the previous season's influenza vaccine stocks, before a June 30 deadline imposed by the Food and Drug Administration, without a new supply...

Canadian Internet Rx drug exports crash.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... A study by IMS Health has found that exports of prescription drugs from Canada sold via the Internet to US residents fell almost 50% last year (Marketletter March 23), the Canadian Press reports. However, a spokesman for the drug industry...

Public consultation for CHMP Ph I guidelines.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has issued a draft guideline on regulations for the Phase I clinical trials of potentially risky pharmaceutical products. A two-month long public...

New hologram can hit fake drug dealers.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Existing hologram technology is inadequate to protect patients from counterfeit drugs, according to Cynthia Larbey, chief executive of a spin-off firm from the UK's Cambridge University. Instead of waiting for radio-frequency identification...

NEW FDA conflict of interest rules "harmful".(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... The recent industry advisory by the US Food and Drug Administration, designed to ensure that conflicts of interest do not prejudice the workings of the federal agency, have been condemned as overzealous and harmful to the future of drug...

Norway's Algeta closes $412M offering.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... On March 26, Algeta, a Norwegian cancer therapeutics company, successfully closed its Initial Public Offering, which was more than two times over-subscribed and was priced in the upper half of the price range at 47 Norwegian kroner per share....

ProFibrix raises $11 million.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Leiden, Netherlands-based ProFibrix BV, a biotechnology company focused on products to stop bleeding and initiate tissue repair, says it has closed a series A financing raising $11.0 million. The round was led by Index Ventures, a venture...

Update on FDA review of Sanofi's rimonabant.(Sanofi-Aventis )(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... French drug major Sanofi-Aventis says that the US Food and Drug Administration notice for its first-in-class selective cannabinoid-1 receptor antagonist rimonabant, is now scheduled for an Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee...

Zanaflu registered as the brand name for ANX-211.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... ADVENTRX Pharmaceuticals and fellow USA-based TRx Pharma say that Zanaflu has been registered as the brand name for ANX- 211 (chitosan gel), a new product for the common cold and influenza. TRx Pharma plans to launch Zanaflu for the 2007 cold...

Innogenetics NV raises 31.7M euros via convertible bond issue.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Belgian biopharmaceutical firm Innogenetics NV says that it has successfully raised 31.7 million euros ($ 42.2 million) through a new private placement of convertible bonds to qualified institutional investors and a reference shareholder, BARC...

bioMerieux and Copan in technology licensing deal.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... French diagnostics group bioMerieux and Copan, a global supplier of products for microbiological and virological research have entered into a licensing agreement, under which the former will market an innovative sample collection system based...

Abraxis to study nab-docetaxel in prostate and breast cancer.(Abraxis BioScience)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Abraxis BioScience, an integrated, global, USA-based biopharmaceutical company, says that it will begin patient enrollment into a Phase I/II clinical trial of nab-docetaxel (ABI-008), an albumin-bound chemotherapuetic. The firm said that...

EAU guidelines recommend Pfizer's Sutent as first-line kidney cancer therapy.
April 2, 2007... New guidelines, released by the European Association of Urology during its annual meeting in Berlin, Germany, advise the use of Pfizer's small-molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor Sutent (sunitinib malate) as first-line therapy in metastatic...

Delay likely for UCB's Cimzia in Crohn's.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Belgian pharmaceutical group UCB has decided to initiate an additional short-term clinical evaluation of its drug Cimzia (certolizumab pegol) to confirm the induction of clinical response in moderate-to-severe active Crohn's disease. The...

Presidential campaign trail for France's G5.
April 2, 2007... France's G5 group of drugmakers (Ipsen, Pierre Fabre, LFB, Sanofi-Aventis and Servier) has launched its own set of proposals for the new presidential era, which will follow the retirement of Jacques Chirac and the likely election of either...

UK govt prescribes information too.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... The UK government is launching a series of pilot schemes to prescribe information to patients along with medicines to patients. The initiative is intended to provide patients with authoritative information sources on the Internet, as well as in...

UK diabetes information "rights" published.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... The publication of an on-line report by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry in association with Ask About Medicines Week and Diabetes UK is "a further boost for the provision of information to people with diabetes," the group...

Isis antisense drug cutsl atherogenic ipids.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... At the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, held in New Orleans, the USA's Isis Pharmaceuticals presented strong data from a Phase II monotherapy trial of ISIS 301012 in which patients with high cholesterol were treated for 10...

Solid data for AstraZeneca's Crestor.
April 2, 2007... Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca presented data at the 56th annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology which show that, when patients with moderately increased low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (mean 154mg/dL) and no...

Torcetrapib does not slow plaque build-up.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Despite raising high-density lipoprotein cholesterol more than 60%, world drug giant Pfizer's one-time star drug candidate torcetrapib did not slow the progression of plaque buildup in the coronary arteries, as measured using an ultrasound...

S-P's TRA drug meets Ph II endpoints.
April 2, 2007... US drug major Schering-Plough reported positive results from a Phase II trial of its novel oral thrombin receptor antagonist (TRA) SCH 530348 in a late-breaking session at the annual Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology,...

Tanakan may still make reimbursement list.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Independent French drugmaker Ipsen has said that its leading drug product, the vasodilator Tanakan, used to treat memory problems in older people, may after all continue to qualify for reimbursement and may not be removed from the list. Ipsen...

Sinclair's 1st-half FY 2007 loss doubles to $5.1M.(Financial report)
April 2, 2007... Irish drugmaker Sinclair Pharma says that, in the six months ended December 31, 2006, it saw an operating loss of L2.6 million ($5.1 million) versus L1.7 million in the like period the previous year, despite the fact that its revenue nearly...

Ferrosan's 2006 income grows 25%.(Financial report)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Ferrosan, a Danish consumer and professional health care company, recorded solid growth in 2006. Revenue for the full year grew 24.9% on the like, year-ago period to 1.14 billion Danish kroner ($204.0 million), marking the first time the...

Siegfried's 2006 sales rise 13% to $296.4M.
April 2, 2007... Swiss branded and generic drugmaker Siegfried AG's full-year 2006 sales increased 13% on the like, year-ago period, to 359.8 million Swiss francs ($296.4 million) but, despite this, net profit dropped 11.3% to 32.4 million francs. All areas of...

Edifa sets up Cruzfarma.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... The Spanish wholesale drug distribution group Edifa, comprising 16 pharma distribution enterprises, has set up a new wholesale platform - Cruzfarma - with the aim of increasing negotiating power in association with certain drugmakers. Miguel...

FDA Deputy Commissioner says fast track biogenerics "a decade away".(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... In a boost to research-based biotechnology firms, the US Food and Drug Administration's Deputy Commissioner, Janet Woodcock, has claimed that the agency will only be able to scientifically verify that a generic version of a biotechnology drug...

Merck & Co/S-P enter new LDL drug accord.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Merck & Co has signed an agreement to commence development of a combination product of its drug ezetimibe together with Pfizer's mega-blockbuster cholesterol-lowerer Lipitor (atorvastatin), as part of a collaboration with fellow US drug major...

Novartis' Tekturna and Diovan work in synergy.(Brief article)(Clinical report)
April 2, 2007... Swiss drug major Novartis says that results from a new study show that patients taking two of its cardiovascular medicines - the recently US-approved drug Tekturna (aliskiren) and the leading therapy Diovan (valsartan) - experienced greater...

Bayer/Regeneron VEGF trap cuts retina thickness.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Germany's Bayer HealthCare AG and USA-based Regeneron reported positive preliminary data from a pre-planned interim analysis of a Phase II randomized study of their vascular endolthelial growth factor Trap-Eye in the neovascular form of...

Otsuka's tolvaptan improves ADHF.(acutely decompensated heart failure)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Japan's Otsuka Pharmaceuticals says that its once-daily oral drug tolvaptan improved the signs and symptoms of acutely decompensated heart failure (ADHF) in hospitalized patients, with a favorable short- and long-term safety and tolerability...

GSK submits Gilead's ambrisentan to CHMP.(GlaxoSmithKline PLC)(Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... UK drug major GlaxoSmithKline's Marketing Authorization Application for ambrisentan in the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) was validated by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) following a review by the Committee for...

Three new drugs get nod from EMEA's CHMP.
April 2, 2007... The European Union's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has recommended approval of US drugmaker Celgene's Revlimid (lenalidomide) in combination with dexamethasone as a treatment for patients with multiple myeloma who have...

Strong data on Bayer's Testogel and Nebido.( Bayer Schering Pharma AG )(Brief article)(Clinical report)
April 2, 2007... At the 22nd annual meeting of the European Association of Urology, held in Berlin, Germany, local drug major Bayer Schering Pharma AG presented strong data on its testosterone gel, Testogel, and Nebido, an intramuscular depot formulation of...

Britons prefer drug/health care products sourced in Europe.(Survey)
April 2, 2007... European public opinion demonstrates concern over security of R&D and production of human health and health care products. Increasing European Union dependence on other parts of the world for "strategic" medicines, health ingredients and other...

Headlines 25 years ago this week....
April 2, 2007... Headlines 25 years ago this week.... The French spent 206.0 billion francs ($33.2 billion at then exchange rates) on their health in 1980, or 3,836 francs per person, according to a new CREDOC report, which also showed that spending on...

Iroko Pharma gets two Merck & Co drugs.(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Iroko Pharmaceuticals has acquired two prescription pharmaceutical medicines, Indocin (indomethacin) capsules, suppositories and oral suspension, and Aldomet (methyldopa) from US drug major Merck & Co in most countries around the world. ...

"Le Fur flies" as Dehecq disagrees?(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... There seems to have been a high-level disagreement between the top management of French drug major Sanofi-Aventis, according to media reports, instigated by the UK's Times newspaper. The Times reported that the Sanofi-Aventis board was...

Algeta listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.(Algeta ASA)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Algeta ASA, a Norwegian cancer therapeutics company, has completed its listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange and its shares began trading there on March 27. The company's listing in Oslo took place in connection with its successful Initial...

BioCryst puts hold on IV Fodosine Ph IIb trial.(Brief article)(Clinical report)
April 2, 2007... Alabama, USA-based BioCryst Pharmaceuticals is voluntarily placing its Phase IIb clinical trial of intravenous Fodosine, a transition-state analog inhibitor of the target enzyme purine nucleoside phosphorylase, in the treatment of patients...

R&D continues to be key for Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim.(research and development plans of Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH)(Financial report)
April 2, 2007... German, privately-owned drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim reiterated the importance of research during its annual conference at its base in the south west of the country. Boehringer chairman Alessandro Banchi said that the firm's R&D expenditure,...

Oxford and Sanofi in TroVax renal cancer deal.(Oxford BioMedica PLC)(Sanofi-Aventis S.A.)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... UK-based biopharmaceutical group Oxford BioMedica and French drug major Sanofi-Aventis have entered into a global licensing agreement to develop and commercialize TroVax, the former's leading anticancer vaccine. The UK firm said that the drug...

OPPI: India Budget was a missed opportunity.
April 2, 2007... India's pharmaceutical sector, which considered it was virtually ignored in the 2006-2007 Union budget, may consider it has more reason to feel aggrieved with the latest budget, which industry leaders claim has once again failed to address the...

Japan's drug output grew 4.4% in 2005.(Financial report)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Japan's pharmaceutical products output for 2005 grew 4.4% compared with the previous year to 6,390.0 billion yen ($54.21 billion), according to figures compiled by the country's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Although prescription...

Canada inches towards compulsory HPV vacc.(human papillomavirus)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization has recommended that girls aged nine to 13 be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus. Older girls and women who are sexually active and not already infected with HPV should also be...

WHO asks Chinese firm to drop $5M pa drug.(World Health Organization )(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... The World Health Organization has asked a China-based drugmaker to stop manufacturing a malaria drug which netted the firm about $5.0 million in 2004. The move is prompted by the WHO's fears that the product, based on artemisinin, is triggering...

India patent law dispute spreads.
April 2, 2007... Two simultaneous developments in India are bringing the issue of patent protection to the forefront. The court case involving Swiss drug major Novartis' challenge of Section 3(d) of the Indian Patent Amendment Act 2005 has resumed at the end of...

Beijing Med-Pharm buys 63% stake in Rongheng.(Shanghai Rongheng Pharmaceutical)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Beijing Med-Pharm has signed definitive agreements to purchase a majority interest in fellow Chinese drugmaker Shanghai Rongheng Pharmaceutical from Shanghai CAS Shenglongda Biotech and Shanghai Rongheng International Trade Co of Orient...