Lilly Expands Partnership With Chinese Generics Manufacturer Novast

Eli Lilly and Company announced this month an expanded collaboration with Novast Laboratories to build a portfolio of Lilly branded generic medicines in China.

AsianScientist (Jun. 25, 2012) – Eli Lilly and Company announced this month an expanded collaboration with Novast Laboratories to build a portfolio of Lilly branded generic medicines in China.

Novast is a generic and specialty pharmaceutical company based in Nantong, China, and the collaboration is intended to provide Lilly with local and regional manufacturing capabilities for its development pipeline.

As part of the agreement, Lilly will increase its equity position in Novast by US$20 million. Lilly made an initial equity investment in Novast several years ago through the Lilly venture capital unit, Lilly Asian Ventures.

Novast has committed to set up a platform to support Lilly branded generic products and increase the manufacturing capacity at its Nantong site over the next several years, with Lilly providing technical support to enhance quality standards. The additional capacity will support the collaboration, but will not be solely dedicated to Lilly products.

The two companies have selected an initial list of medicines across multiple therapeutic areas that will be manufactured by Novast once the facilities are operational. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“In China, Lilly is building for the future by investing across our value chain,” said Eric Baclet, president and general manager of Lilly China.

“We have made significant investments in research and development, increased our commercial presence to better serve patients and healthcare providers, and expanded our manufacturing capabilities both at Lilly owned sites and through partner companies such as Novast.”

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Source: Eli Lilly.
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