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Headquartered in Shanghai, ShangPharma, through its subsidiaries(in particular Shanghai ChemPartner ("ChemPartner") and Shanghai ChemExplorer("ChemExplorer"), is a leading contract research provider in China of servicesin lead generation, lead optimization, synthetic chemistry, library design andproduction, process research, and pharmaceutical development with focuses onpre-formulation development and analytical service. Its customers are mostlyinternational pharmaceutical, biotech, agrochemical and chemical companies,which include many of the top 10 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies inthe world. The Group is also a key outsourcing partner to the world's largestinnovation-driven pharmaceutical corporation.
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Mr. Sing Wang, Partner and Managing Director of the TPG Growth Fund, andMr. Geoff Duyk, M.D., D. Phil., Partner and Managing Director of the TPGBiotech Fund, joined ShangPharma's board of directors.
"We are delighted to have TPG as our cornerstone investor," said Mr.Michael Hui, CEO of ShangPharma. "Backed by TPG's financial strength andindustry expertise in the global biotechnology sector, this strategic alliancewill be instrumental for the Group's business expansion beyond chemistryoutsourcing and in providing more integrated drug discovery and earlydevelopment services. "
"With our base in Shanghai, home to one of the largest pools ofprofessional talent and biotechnology expertise, we benefit from the cost andresource advantages that China's pharmaceutical outsourcing industry offers.In addition to increasing our potential for entering the highly lucrativeinternal drug discovery and development program, this powerful competitiveplatform puts us in a strong position to broaden our offerings along theentire pharmaceutical value chain," added Hui.
According to the latest market study, global R&D expenditures for bothpharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have grown from US$47.6 billion in2004 to US$55.2 billion in 2006, a key factor behind the robust growth of theglobal drug discovery R&D outsourcing market. In addition, global R&D growthhas made China a leading off-shore R&D destination, given its substantialtalent pool, good infrastructure and strong government support, as well asincreased investments by biopharmaceutical companies and a large domesticpharmaceutical market.
By leveraging the industry knowledge and investment experience of TPG,ShangPharma will expand its business lines geographically and transform theGroup into a fully integrated Contract Research Organization ("CRO") thatincludes biological services in the area of assay development and compoundscreening, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic studies. The company will alsoestablish a cGMP manufacturing facility based upon US FDA criteria. ThroughTPG's global platform, ShangPharma will also gain further marketing and salesopportunities globally and thus expand its customer base in the US, Europe andJapan.
Mr. Sing Wang, Partner and Managing Director of TPG Growth Fund, said, "Weare confident that ShangPharma has significant organic business growthopportunities given its strong fundamentals. TPG's investment expertise willbe able to assist ShangPharma in its efforts to explore acquisitions andintegration opportunities that will aid in the transformation of the Group'sbusiness."
Mr. Wang added that TPG will also play an active role in helping tostrengthen ShangPharma's professional team, enhance its corporate governanceand expand its reach to potential customer
