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| Luye chairman Liu Dianbo |
Hong Kong-listed Luye Pharma Group has terminated a $600 million deal to buy a majority stake in Beijing Jialin Pharmaceutical that would have beefed up its pipeline of cardiovascular drugs while expanding its product lineup.
Newly minted biopharma billionaire Liu Dianbo announced the deal in August 2014 in a move that was seen to burnish credentials as one of the top biotech drug developers in China.
Beijing Jialin markets cancer and cardiovascular treatments and successfully challenged a patent for Pfizer's ($PFE) Lipitor in China last month that was seen by analysts as favorable to the deal.
However, Luye said it remains in the market for oncology, cardiovascular and metabolic candidates.
The deal termination follows a spate of moves by Chinese biotech and pharma firms, including a heavyweight consortium of Chinese biomedical- and healthcare-focused funds buying San Diego-based biotech Ambrx last month to open a path to cutting-edge candidates in oncology therapies.
China Everbright's healthcare fund, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group, HOPU Investments and WuXi PharmaTech ($WX) announced the deal without providing financial details and said they expect it to close in the second quarter of 2015.
- here's the Luye release