LabCorp’s Covance and Shandon XuanZhu, a subsidiary of Chinese R&D firm Sihuan Pharmaceutical, have announced a partnership on preclinical and clinical portfolio development.
As part of the alliance, Covance will support the global development of Sihuan Pharmaceutical’s drug candidate pipeline, which consists of multiple compounds that address unmet needs across therapeutics areas including cardiovascular, metabolic, infectious disease, oncology and urology.
Honggang Bi, corporate VP and general manager of China at Covance, said: “This agreement is the first of its kind signed with a partner in the Asia Pacific region, and Covance looks forward to collaborating with Sihuan Pharmaceutical in its efforts to potentially bring global filing strategies to realisation.”
“With multiple compounds in its development pipeline, Sihuan Pharmaceutical is a promising pharmaceutical company to watch for groundbreaking new therapies.”
Specifically, Sihuan will be provided with drug development and regulatory expertise, particularly in efforts to achieve dual or multiple filings for regulatory approvals such as investigational new drug (IND) applications and new drug applications (NDA) in China and internationally.
Dr Frank Wu, chief scientific officer of Sihuan Pharmaceutical, commented: “The partnership is another milestone for our international collaboration and R&D team, which will enable us to accelerate the development of our pipeline, in turn helping to bring treatments to multiple markets faster, a key point of differentiation in the Chinese pharmaceutical industry.”
LabCorp announced the acquisition of full-service drug development firm Covance last November, with the deal being valued at $5.6bn.