Covance and Sihuan Pharmaceutical Initiate Partnership in Preclinical and Clinical Portfolio Development

Princeton, N.J. – March 31, 2015 – Laboratory Corporation of America^® Holdings (LabCorp) (NYSE:LH) and Shandong XuanZhu Pharma Co., Ltd., the wholly-owned subsidiary for innovative drug research and development of Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd. (HKEx Stock Code: 00460), which is a leading pharmaceutical company with the largest cardio-cerebral vascular drug franchise in China’s prescription market, today announced a long-term partnership with Covance Drug Development (Covance) 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. 

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 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.

Specifically, Covance will provide Sihuan Pharmaceutical with global 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. As these innovative drug candidates enter development, Covance’s specialized therapeutic area knowledge and its fully standardized global systems will enable more efficient development and advancement of these molecules.

“The partnership joins the forces of two market leaders, bringing together Sihuan Pharmaceutical’s strong product pipeline and extensive marketing network in China and Covance’s expertise and experience in bringing compounds to market internationally,” said Dr. Frank Wu, Chief Scientific Officer of Sihuan Pharmaceutical. “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.”

“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 realization,” said Honggang Bi, Corporate Vice President and General Manager China at Covance. “With multiple compounds in its development pipeline, Sihuan Pharmaceutical is a promising pharmaceutical company to watch for ground-breaking new therapies.”

The partnership 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.

In recent years, the Chinese domestic pharmaceutical and biotech industry has been transitioning from generic pharmaceutical manufacturing to the discovery and development of innovative drugs. As more novel drug candidates enter global development, Covance brings to its clients drug development and regulatory expertise, therapeutic area experience and fully globalized systems and processes. For example, Covance’s MarketPlace is a unique solution that enables emerging pharmaceutical companies, such as Sihuan Pharmaceutical in the Asia Pacific region, to bring molecules to development in other regions more efficiently by leveraging Covance’s broad market presence. Furthermore, Covance’s international network offers clients direct connections with experts in China, the U.S., Europe, and beyond, providing real-time solutions at both the local and global levels. This new model maximizes the value of Covance’s drug development solutions for clients in China and the Asia Pacific region.