Qiming News

Qiming Venture Partners to Invest in GanLee Pharmaceuticals

20/05/2010 | Qiming

SHANGHAI, May 20 2010, GanLee Pharmaceutical Company Limited ("GanLee"), a leading bio-pharmaceutical company based in China, announced that they received investments from Qiming Venture Partners ("Qiming"), a well-known China-focused venture capital firm.

GanLee, founded in 1998, is a bio-pharmaceutical company, dedicated to development and marketing human recombinant insulin and insulin analog products. The Company has world-leading research & development capabilities and prides itself on its state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. GanLee has a full range of human recombinant insulin and insulin analog products, which meet and exceed the standards of US and EU pharmacopoeia.

Dr. GAN Zhongru, the founder of GanLee, together with his team, successfully launched the first human recombinant insulin injection in China in 1998, leveraging on sophisticated recombinant DNA technologies. In honor of this landmark achievement, Dr. Gan was awarded the prestigious National Award for Science and Technology in 2002. Dr. Gan and his team continued their efforts and succeeded in developing the first short-acting insulin analog, Prandilin(R), in China in 2001 and the first long-acting insulin analog, Basalin(R), in China in 2002. GanLee built a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for developing human recombinant insulin and insulin analog in 2004, which is the largest in Asia and third-largest in the world.

According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), there were over 190 million patients with diabetes in 2005 and another 300 million at high risk of developing diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance. In 2005, the top five countries having the most number of diabetes patients were: India, China, the United States of America, Russia and Japan. According to a recent issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, China had 92 million diabetes patients and has become the largest country in number of diabetes patients. In recognition of recombinant insulin glargine's satisfactory efficacies in controlling blood sugar level and improving patients' quality of life, both the American Dental Association, ADA, and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, EASD, have classified insulin glargine as a first line treatment of diabetes. It is well known that diabetes has become the third largest chronic disease and is jeopardizing the health of human beings, as well as causing burdensome damage to the world economy. Diabetes can cause diseases of the kidney, cardiovascular, cerebral and neural systems, which lead to higher death rates.

GanLee and Sanofi-Aventis, a French headquartered company, are the only two companies in the world with patented technologies to produce recombinant insulin glargine. GanLee equipped their GMP facilities with advanced manufacturing equipment and analytic devices and employs a well-trained and experienced team of manufacturing staff. GanLee had established its sales and marketing headquarters in Beijing and entered into more than 20 countries in Europe and South America. GanLee possesses patented technologies to produce human recombinant insulin and insulin analog and has filed PCT in more than 20 other countries. This round of private placement will further enhance GanLee's capabilities in research & development, manufacturing and sales & marketing. GanLee's vision is to become a leading company in diabetes care, to offer patients high quality products and improve their quality of life.

For more information, please contact:

Du Kai

GanLee Pharmaceutical Company Limited

Tel: +86-10-8559-7868

Email: dukai@ganlee.com