China Firm Licenses French Stroke Drug for $70 Million

A Chinese drug company will pay 60 million euros ($70.1 million) for rights to sell a new stroke medication being developed by France’s Acticor Biotech in China and other Asian countries, marking the latest effort to bring cutting-edge drugs to the region.

The deal will see China Medical System Holdings Ltd. (CMS) receive rights for the drug ACT017 for Greater China, including Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as Singapore, South Korea and the Philippines, the Chinese company said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The deal’s 60 million euro price tag was disclosed in a separate statement from Acticor.

“As a specialty pharmaceutical company based in China, CMS is the ideal strategic partner to help us advance our platform and commercialize potential products in this important region,” Acticor CEO Gilles Avenard said.

China is rapidly overhauling its medical system to provide affordable care to its 1.3 billion people, following the dismantling of a socialist-era system in which everyone previously received such care through their respective state-owned employers. Part of that effort has included modernization of its pharmaceutical industry to make more cutting-edge drugs available to its citizens.

That campaign has seen the country speed up its approval for new drugs from companies like U.S. giant Merck & Co. Inc., while Chinese drug companies like Cstone Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. have also signed licensing deals to bring foreign-developed new drugs to their home market.

China Medical System’s deal falls into the licensing category, and will give the company regional rights to a drug that has concluded phase 1 clinical trials in the EU and is now preparing for phase 1B and phase 2 trials. The drug, ACT017, is being developed for the treatment of the acute phase of ischemic stroke, according to the company’s statement.

“Based on the results of previous researches, ACT017 has the potential to overcome the long-standing safety concerns about this kind of drugs in stroke and other serious vascular emergency situations and would become a first class antithrombotic agent,” China Medical System said. “The group believes that the products will have broad market prospects after being commercialized in the territory. Through this cooperation, the group will accelerate the pace of introducing patented innovative products to accumulate rich pipeline products for future development.”

China Medical System’s Hong Kong-listed stock has risen 2.4% in the two trading days since the announcement.

Contact reporter Yang Ge (geyang@caixin.com)