Japan Drugmaker Shionogi To Tie Up With China’s Ping An

Japan’s Shionogi, creator of the blockbuster cholesterol treatment Crestor, announced on Monday, March 30, it would tie up with Ping An Insurance Group of China, selling a 2.05% voting stake for 33.53 billion yen (US$311 million). 

Shionogi will form a joint venture with the Chinese group’s unit, Ping An Life Insurance of China Ltd, with the aim of discovering and distributing new drugs and developing generic ones as it looks to expand in China, reported Reuters. 

“To attain our growth strategy beyond 2020, we must realize the expansion of our business in China, which is expected to show the greatest pharmaceutical market growth in the world over the next 10 years,” Shionogi said in the statement. 

Shionogi, which gains roughly half its revenue from royalties, posted four-straight years of record operating profit through 2019. It focuses on infectious diseases but a looming patent cliff for its HIV treatments will create an earnings gap that will be hard to completely offset. 

Ping An Insurance Group, China’s largest insurer by market value, said in February it expected the coronavirus outbreak to affect its business in the first half.

Full Content: Reuters

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