SDIC, AstraZeneca agree China pharma JV
SDIC Fund Management, a GP under China’s State Development & Investment Corporation (SDIC), and AstraZeneca have formed a China-based joint venture that will develop and commercialize new medicines.
The stand-alone company, known as Dizal Pharmaceutical, will be equally owned by AstraZeneca and the Chinese Future Industry Investment Fund (FIIF), which is backed by SDIC Fund Management. The FIIF's remit in the pharmaceutical industry is to promote drug development in China through strategic partnerships and funding.
Dizal will incorporate all the scientific and technical capacity of Innovation Center China (ICC), AstraZeneca’s existing R&D center in Shanghai. This includes exclusive rights to three drugs - focusing on treatments for cancer, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, and respiratory conditions - in pre-clinical development. Xiaolin Zhang, previously head of ICC, has been named as the CEO at Dizal.
AstraZeneca, which currently operates in over 100 countries, entered the China market in 1993. Over the years, it has developed end-to-end local R&D capabilities, from drug discovery to clinical development and manufacturing. With more than 11,000 employees, AstraZeneca has manufacturing sites in the cities of Wuxi and Taizhou, and a distribution center in Wuxi.
“AstraZeneca’s Innovation Center China has an excellent track record of drug discovery, and the synergy created by combining AstraZeneca’s scientific talent and assets with FIIF’s China expertise and funding will help further promote innovation in medical science,” Guohua Gao, chairman of SDIC Fund Management, said in a statement.
Established in 2009, SDIC Fund Management manages and advises more than RMB60 billion ($9 billion) of capital for the likes of SDIC and the National Council for Social Security Fund (NSSF). It focuses on investments in healthcare, advanced manufacturing, technology, media and telecom, and environmental protection.
The GP has previously backed healthcare companies such as Innovent Biologics, Ascentage Pharma Group, Suzhou Ribo Life Science, CanSino Biologics and CF PharmaTech.
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