The Weekly News Update is a weekly roundup of business news from around the Asia-Pacific region, covering Fusion Consulting's core industry practices: chemicals, consumer & retail, financial services, industrial & logistics, information & communication technology, life science and media & leisure. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.  Life science

China - Chemical drug preparations sector reports rapid development Source: Xinhua Economic News Service, 15 February 2008 China's chemical drug preparations sector generated RMB166.2 billion (US$23.2 billion) in gross industrial output value in the first 11 months of 2007, up 24.3% year-on-year. The Shanghai Institute of Pharmaceutical Industry revealed that the sector's gross sales value reached RMB155.3 billion (US$21.7 billion), up 21.8% year-on-year. Jiangsu province held leadership in the sector in terms of sales value, followed by Guangdong and Shandong provinces. In view of export delivery, China's chemical drug preparations sector generated RMB7.3 billion (US$1 billion) in the first 11 months of 2007, up 42.8% year on year. The sector's export delivery accounted for 4.7% of its gross sales value. India - Roche ties up with Mankind Pharma Source: Business Standard, 15 February 2008 Roche Diagnostics, a leading global player in medical diagnostics segment, has entered into an exclusive agreement with the Delhi-based Mankind Pharma to market its newly launched blood glucose monitoring device "Accu-Chek Go"” in India. This is the first such marketing tie-up for both companies in India.     Roche intends to capitalise on Mankind's strong distribution network to make Accu-Chek Go available in 500 cities across the country. Mankind is looking at selling "Accu-Chek Go" worth Rs200 million (US$5 million) in the first year and expects to generate sales amounting to Rs2 billion (US$50 million) in five years.     Japan - Fujifilm to buy drugmaker Toyama Chemical Source: Bloomberg, 19 February 2008 Photographic film maker Fujifilm will buy 66% of Tokyo-based drugmaker Toyama Chemical to diversify into pharmaceuticals as demand for camera supplies falls. Fujifilm is paying Y154.6 billion (US$1.4 billion) for the Toyama stake. The acquisition would give Fujifilm about 10 experimental medicines, including the first new class of anti-flu drug in a decade. Known as T-705, the anti-flu pill is expected to challenge Roche Holdings AG's Tamiflu within two years. Toyama has started to test whether the T-705 is more effective at reducing flu symptoms than Roche Holding's Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza antivirals.     View an example of our experience in this industry. Back to list of articles.  Visit our new website to sign up for free intelligence on Asian markets.

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