East by South
China's Nuance to use South Africa to speed development for global partners
Nuance Biotech Inc. plans to in-license rights to develop and commercialize assets in China, with a twist on the standard model: it will include clinical trial sites in South Africa to improve the speed and efficiency of Phase II and III trials and make their results applicable to a broader patient population to support its partners' regulatory submissions in other markets.
Nuance was formed by former executives of Chinese specialty pharma NovaMed Pharmaceuticals Inc., which was acquired by SciClone Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2011 for about $62 million. Nuance CEO Mark Lotter told BioCentury that NovaMed originally planned to in-license both clinical- and commercial-stage products, but early attention drawn to its commercial programs led the company to deprioritize clinical stage deals...