The board of directors (the "Board") of Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd. (the "Company" or "Sihuan Pharmaceutical" together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") announces that Shandong XuanZhu Pharma Co., Ltd. ("Shandong XuanZhu"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Group, and Covance Inc. ("Covance"), the drug development business of Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings ("LabCorp"), recently signed a long-term partnership to support the global development of Sihuan Pharmaceutical's drug candidate pipeline consisting of multiple compounds that address unmet needs across a range of therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular, metabolic, infectious disease, oncology and urology.
Since entering into the research and development ("R&D") of innovative patented new drugs in 2008, the Group has already successfully submitted Investigational New Drug ("IND") application for eight Category 1.1 innovative drugs, five of which have been granted approval for clinical trials, and three of which have entered into phase I clinical trials. In total, there are fourteen projects of innovative drugs under development. Currently, very few local Chinese pharmaceutical companies have the R&D capabilities for innovative drugs, while those with scaled R&D teams and innovative drug R&D platforms are even rarer. Sihuan Pharmaceutical is one of the few pharmaceutical companies that has strong innovative drug R&D platform and sizeable professional teams. With rapid enhancement in R&D capabilities over recent years, Sihuan Pharmaceutical has now become an industrial leader. In October 2014, R13.51A the Group's innovative R&D team submitted the first IND application of Pirotinib, a self-developed innovative patented oncology drug, to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"). The clinical trial approval was granted in only twenty-nine days after the IND application with the official letter by FDA. The partnership between Covance and the Group will add strong impetus to further enhance the Group's R&D and accelerate the development of the Group's pipelines, and in turn achieving the goal of international development of the Group's new drugs.
Covance will support the preclinical and clinical development of Sihuan Pharmaceutical's rich drug candidate pipeline, which includes new molecules with the potential to treat a range of diseases. This innovative model will bring compounds through the product life cycle from the early to late stages, maximizing the value of drug development solutions and supporting greater efforts to bring drugs to market in China, the Asia Pacific region and globally.
The partnership with Covance showcase that the Group has made a solid step forward in the international development of the Group's new drugs. It will enable Sihuan Pharmaceutical and Covance to seamlessly integrate and design an innovative model for drug development. Sihuan Pharmaceutical and Covance will work in collaboration to implement a customized program in order to bring best-in-class solutions to market.
About LabCorp
LabCorp, an S&P 500 company, is the world's leading healthcare diagnostics company, providing comprehensive clinical laboratory services through LabCorp Diagnostics, and end-to-end drug development support through Covance Drug Development. LabCorp is a pioneer in commercializing new diagnostic technologies and is improving people's health by delivering the combination of world-class diagnostics, drug development and knowledge services. With combined revenue in excess of US$8.5 billion in 2014 and more than 48,000 employees in over 60 countries, LabCorp offers innovative solutions to healthcare stakeholders. LabCorp clients include physicians, patients and consumers, biopharmaceutical companies, government agencies, managed care organizations, hospitals, and clinical labs. To learn more about Covance Drug Development, please visit www.covance.com. To learn more about LabCorp and LabCorp Diagnostics, please visit www.labcorp.com.
About Sihuan Pharmaceutical
Founded in 2001, Sihuan Pharmaceutical is a leading pharmaceutical company and the largest cardio-cerebral vascular drug franchise in China's prescription drug market by market share. The Company also became the fourth largest pharmaceutical company in terms of hospital purchase in China's hospital market by the end of 2014. The success of the Group can be attributed to its differentiated and proven sales and marketing model, extensive nationwide distribution network, young and diversified product portfolio, and strong research and development capabilities. Sihuan Pharmaceutical's current products encompass the top five medical therapeutic areas in China: cardio-cerebral vascular system, central nervous system, metabolism, oncology and anti-infectives. Its major products such as Kelinao, Oudimei, Yuanzhijiu, Chuanqing and Qu'Ao are widely used in the treatment of various cardio-cerebral vascular diseases. To learn more about Sihuan Pharmaceutical, please visit www.sihuanpharm.com.