The FDA has told XiAn Libang Pharmaceuticals to improve its quality control procedures, if it wants to continue importing products to the US. The US agency told the company to hire an outside auditor to develop a Corrective Action Plan and respond to the warning letter within 15 days. According to the FDA, XiAn Libang did not conduct a thorough investigation after quality control problems were discovered last summer. More details...

It was a good week for fundings in China life science, with five companies announcing new capital. Chief among them was AutekBio, which released the news that it would take advantage of impressive $100 million for a biologic CMO facility.

AutekBio, Inc., with headquarters in the Bay Area

Chongqing Porton Fine Chemicals Co., a CMO, raised $10 million from the Chongqing DT Fund. The Chongqing DT Fund is a joint effort run by DT Capital of Shanghai and funded by the Chongqing Venture Capital Guidance Fund. Porton will use the money to build a state-of-the-art intermediate and API manufacturing facility in Changshou Chemical Park in Chongqing. More details...

TCT Medical Technology, a China medical device company that focuses on the OB/GYN market, has raised $10 million in new capital from two Fidelity funds. TCT claims to be the largest high-tech medical equipment and supplies importer in China within women’s health. It is the exclusive distributor in China of Cytyc’s ThinPrep pap test, the world’s leading cervical cancer screening product. More details...

Xiaochuan Wang, PhD, a returnee who founded Shanghai’s CRO Sundia MediTech (桑迪亚医药技术（上海）有限公司) in 2004, was named the Asia-Pacific Entrepreneur of the Year by BioSpectrum. From its beginnings in 2004, Sundia has grown to an organization with 400 employees, including more than 300 scientists, which offers CRO services to over 90 customers from the US, Europe and Japan. More details...

EA Inc., a company that makes invisible dental braces, completed a $6.6 million Series A financing led by OrbiMed, which provided “nearly all” of the funds, along with individual investors. OrbiMed characterized the financing as a restructuring of EA Inc. More details...

Lotus Pharmaceuticals (路坦制药有限公司) has begun construction of nine-storey building complex the will provide offices, R&D, production, and storage. The new facility is being built on the grounds of its existing production facility in Beijing. More details...

Stock Symbol: (OTCBB: LTUS)

AutekBio, Inc., with headquarters in the Bay Area of California but operations in China, will build Asia’s largest biologic CMO facility in southern Beijing. To construct the facility, AutekBio signed a deal securing $100 million in venture capital from private and government sources. Contributing to

As expected, WuXi PharmaTech (药明康德) reported 2009 net revenues of $270 million, an increase of 7%. Net income climbed to $52.9 million compared to a loss of $64.2 million in 2008, when the company took a significant $49.3 million writedown of its US-based biologics manufacturing business, which was part of its AppTec acquisition. Revenues matched analysts’ expectations, while earnings were slightly below forecasts. More details...

Stock Symbol: (NYSE: WX)

China’s life science industry is growing quickly, and most experts in the prediction industry place the rate of growth at about 20%, a very healthy number (see story). IMS Health (NYSE: RX), a global pharmaceutical consultancy, expects slightly better

Fifteen entrepreneurs from a broad spectrum of life science fields were selected as Finalists in the SEED Competition, which makes them eligible to compete for the Grand Prize of 300,000 RMB ($45,000). The awards were made at the SEED Finalist Coaching Day event held in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park earlier this week. Over 140 people attended the event. Roche (

Chi-Med plans to spin off its drug development arm, Hutchison MediPharma, within two years, possibly through an IPO on the Nasdaq exchange. According to the company, the offering would be the largest Nasdaq IPO of a China biotech. At the same time, Hutchison MediPharma is seeking a partner for its lead product, HMPL-004, a treatment for ulcerative colitis that recently released positive results from a Phase IIb trial in the US.

Mindray Medical (迈瑞医疗国际有限公司),, the medical device company, priced a secondary offering of 4 million American depositary shares at $38.20 per ADS, raising $152.8 million in new cash. Mindray closed the previous trading session at $38.00. Because Mindray seems to have plenty of cash, the offering was a surprise, and may indicate the company is eyeing some future acquisitions. More details...

Stock Symbol: (NYSE: MR)

China’s life science industry is growing quickly, and most experts in the prediction industry place the rate of growth at about 20%, a very healthy number. IMS Health, a global pharmaceutical consultancy, expects slightly better results for China: 22% compound annual growth rate during 2010-2113. That compares to a 4% to 6% rate in the global market. In fact, IMS Health thinks China will be responsible for 21% of all growth in the worldwide pharmaceutical market in

Sanofi-Aventis wants to continue building its presence in China. Company officials said Sanofi-Aventis will seek additional partnerships following the joint venture announced last month with Minsheng Pharmaceutical, a JV that will develop vitamin and mineral products in the consumer healthcare sector. Sanofi has gone on record to say it prefers the partnership approach in China, as opposed to building its own R&D center. More details...

Stock Symbol: (NYSE: SNY)

Asymchem Laboratories, a North Carolina company with an extensive network of CMO facilities in China, has agreed to build another manufacturing plant in the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA), according to China Knowledge. This project will focus on R&D, production and distribution of biomedical products. More details...

Generex Biotechnology announced it has been granted a China patent for its Ii-Key peptide vaccine technology, a vaccine currently in US clinical trials to prevent a recurrence of breast cancer. Generex said the patent covers both its platform technologies and Ii-Key-containing drug development compounds. Generex is “actively seeking” either joint venture or licensing partnerships for the vaccine, and it has already begun discussions with several large pharmas. More details...

Stock Symbol: (NSDQ: GNBT)

Kalen Biomedical of Maryland, US has found a partner to distribute its lipoprotein research products in China. MingRui Biotech Co., Ltd. of Shanghai, which is already involving in marketing biological reagents, will be Kalen’s China representative for its portfolio of cardiovascular research tools. More details...

WuXi PharmaTech (药明康德) has struck a two-way pre-clinical services deal with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, a division of Janssen Pharmaceutica N.V. WuXi PharmaTech will provide toxicology and other non-clinical services to Janssen, while Janssen will help WuXi attain GLP status in its new Suzhou toxicology lab. More details...

Stock Symbol: (NYSE: WX)

Mindray Medical (迈瑞医疗国际有限公司), the medical device company headquartered in Shenzhen, issued a very positive financial report for 2009. The company recorded revenues of $634 million, an increase of 16%, while net income climbed to $139.2 million, a 28% jump. For 2010, Mindray said it expects revenue growth to continue at a 17% pace; non-GAAP net income is expected to match that rate, giving evidence of the continuing vitality of the medical device sector. More details...

Stock Symbol: (NYSE: MR