Simcere To Acquire 74.49% Stake In ChinaVax

Simcere Pharmaceutical (Simcere) has entered into an agreement to acquire a 74.49% stake in ChinaVax, a Cayman Islands company that, as its sole business, holds a 13.27% stake in Jiangsu Yanshen Biological Technology Stock (Jiangsu Yanshen).

Simcere said that after the completion of the acquisition, and together with a 37.5% stake in Jiangsu Yanshen acquired in May 2009, it will control a 50.77% stake in Jiangsu Yanshen.

Jinsheng Ren, chairman and chief executive officer of Simcere, said: “China’s emerging vaccine industry has shown strong growth potential. We are delighted to make this additional investment in Jiangsu Yanshen, following our acquisition of a 37.5% stake earlier this year. This investment is in line with Simcere’s mid-to-long-term strategy and demonstrates Simcere’s continuing progress in China’s vaccine industry.”

Located in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, Jiangsu Yanshen is a China-based developer and manufacturer of vaccines. Reportedly, Jiangsu Yanshen was awarded a new drug certificate and production license from China’s State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) on September 18, 2009 for its Influenza A (H1N1) vaccine.