Week In Review: Hepalink Pharma Buys US-based CMO Cytovance

Deals and Financings

Shenzhen Hepalink Pharma (SHZ: 002399) will acquire Cytovance® Biologics, a US biologics contract development manufacturing company, for $205.7 million plus unspecified contingency payments (see story). Hepalink plans to retain Cytovance’s management, its 178 employees and its Oklahoma City facilities. With its capital, Hepalink expects to accelerate Cytovance’s expansion plans. This includes adding 5,000L and 10,000L mammalian reactors and 1,000L and 5,000L microbial fermentors. 

Shanghai Pharma (SHA: 600196), China’s largest drug distributor, will launch a China healthcare venture capital investment fund that will ultimately raise $470 million (see story). The first tranche will be $157 million and Shanghai Pharma will contribute 25% of that, or just under $40 million. The VC fund will back healthcare start-ups in all life science fields. The news came from a securities filing. 

DynoSense, a San Jose medical device company, closed a $9.4 million Series A funding round from a group of China-US investors that included WI Harper Group; JKOM Cloud Health Technology; Plug and Play Tech Center; Jinmao Capital; and Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati (see story). With the new capital, DynoSense will seek US regulatory approval and commercialization of Dyno, a remote, multi-function device that captures 33 health metrics, uploads the data to the cloud, and then transfers it to medical professionals. 

Jiangxi Boya Bio-Pharmaceutical (SHZ: 300294), a blood products pharma, agreed to make two acquisitions: it purchased an 84% stake in Nanjing Xinbai Pharmaceutical in exchange for stock, and it also acquired a 28% interest in Guizhou Tianan Pharma for cash (see story). Neither amount was disclosed. To pay for the transaction, Boya said it would raise as much as $78 million through a private placement. The raised capital will also help pay for building Boya’s new R&D center and development of new coagulation factor products.