Brussels – May 18, 2009 — Solvay Pharmaceuticals announces it has signed an agreement with HUYA Bioscience International, a company specialized in enabling and accelerating global co- development of novel biopharmaceutical product opportunities originating in China.
Through this agreement, Solvay Pharmaceuticals will gain access to HUYA’s comprehensive Chinese molecule portfolio, focusing specifically on compounds in the cardiovascular area. As some of these molecules are already in advanced stages of development in China, the partnership will help Solvay Pharmaceuticals speed up its early discovery activities as well as increase the company’s chances for successfully developing innovative new therapies as safety or efficacy information is already available for some of these molecules.
The pace and quality of China’s innovation in the life sciences have led to a significant increase in new product opportunities. Through key collaborations with China’s leading academic and commercial organizations, HUYA has gained access to these opportunities to enable and accelerate their worldwide development and commercialization. HUYA has thereby built a most comprehensive Chinese compound portfolio, including a significant number of product candidates targeting cardiovascular diseases to which Solvay Pharmaceuticals will have access under this strategic partnership.
“We look forward to working with HUYA and its highly qualified Chinese partners to identify innovative new molecules and develop them into break-through new therapies for patients and physicians around the globe”, said Werner Cautreels, PhD, CEO of Solvay Pharmaceuticals. “We believe that through this partnership, we will be able to speed up our R&D activities by gaining access to compounds that could be introduced in more advanced stages of early development”.
According to Mireille Gingras, PhD, President and CEO of HUYA, “this partnership with Solvay Pharmaceuticals further validates HUYA’s model for co-developing in Western markets novel therapeutic compounds sourced from China. Moreover, it leverages our demonstrated capabilities and experience in cardiovascular drug development. We are pleased to partner with Solvay Pharmaceuticals on new opportunities for development.”
About Solvay Pharmaceuticals
Solvay Pharmaceuticals is a research driven group of companies that constitutes the global pharmaceutical business of the Solvay Group. The companies seek to fulfil carefully selected, unmet medical needs in the therapeutic areas of neuroscience, cardiometabolic, influenza vaccines, gastroenterology and men’s and women’s health. Its 2008 sales were EUR 2.7 billion and it employs more than 9,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit www.solvaypharmaceuticals.com.
About HUYA Bioscience International
HUYA Bioscience International is a leader in enabling and accelerating the global co- development of novel biopharmaceutical product opportunities originating in China. HUYA has established extensive collaborations with Chinese biopharmaceutical academic and commercial organizations to speed development and value creation in world-wide markets for China-sourced product candidates. With the largest Chinese compound portfolio covering all therapeutic areas, HUYA has emerged as the partner-of-choice for building and maximizing the value of biopharmaceutical innovation in China. HUYA is jointly headquartered in San Diego, CA, and Shanghai, PRC. Additional information about the company is available at www.huyabio.com.
Contact
Solvay Pharmaceuticals:
Sven Voet
Global Communications Phone: + 32 2 509 68 11
sven.voet@solvay.com
HUYA Bioscience International:
USA:
Jan Tuttleman, PhD
Vice President, Marketing
HUYA Bioscience International, LLC
(858) 798-8800
jtuttleman@huyabio.com
China:
Li Zhu, PhD
VP China Operations
HUYA Bioscience International, LLC
86 (21) 51323312
lzhu@huyabio.com
Media Contact HUYA Bioscience International:
Juliet Travis
(510) 452-3771
juliet@travispr.com