Hutchmed Regulatory News (HCM)

18 Jun 2007 07:00

Hutchison China Meditech Limited18 June 2007 Hutchison China MediTech Limited ("Chi-Med") (AIM: HCM) Chi-Med locks-in property gain and protects low cost R&D structure throughacquisition of Shanghai facility London, Monday, 18 June 2007: Chi-Med today announces its wholly-owned drug R&Dsubsidiary, Hutchison MediPharma Limited ("Hutchison MediPharma"), has purchaseda building of 5,024 sq.m. located at Zhang Jiang High-Tech Park in Pudong,Shanghai, China ("ZJ High-Tech Park") it has leased for the past three yearsfrom Zhang Jiang Biotech and Pharmaceutical Base Development Co. Ltd. for atotal price of US$3.3 million. The building, which houses all HutchisonMediPharma's R&D facilities and its 120 scientists and staff, has expansioncapacity for up to 300 staff. The purchase price of US$3.3 million, which is well below the current marketprice of approximately US$5.6 million, is the result of an agreement made inearly 2004 that originally enticed Hutchison MediPharma to become the firstforeign drug R&D operator to move to ZJ High-Tech Park. Since then, othersincluding Pfizer, Lilly, Astra Zeneca, Roche and Novartis have established R&Doperations in ZJ High-Tech Park making it China's main drug R&D hub. Thisinflux combined with growth in overall Shanghai property demand have led to arapid rise in both rental and purchase prices. Mr. Christian Hogg, CEO of Chi-Med, said: "This is a modern facility, tailor-made and ideally located for HutchisonMediPharma's current and future drug R&D needs. We have taken the opportunityto buy a valuable, and fully transferable, asset at considerably below currentmarket value. It is a very good use of a small portion of Chi-Med's currentUS$66 million in available cash and importantly will help lock-in a low costoperating structure on the drug R&D business." Ends Enquiries Chi-Med Telephone: +852 2121 8200 Christian Hogg, CEO Citigate Dewe Rogerson Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7638 9571 Anthony Carlisle +44 (0) 7973 611 888Yvonne Alexander +44 (0) 7866 610 682 Notes to Editors Chi-Med is the holding company of a pharmaceutical and healthcare group basedprimarily in China and was admitted to trading on the Alternative InvestmentMarket of the London Stock Exchange in May 2006. Chi-Med is focused onresearching, developing, manufacturing, and selling pharmaceuticals, healthsupplements and other consumer health and personal care products derived fromTraditional Chinese Medicine and botanical ingredients. Hutchison MediPharma is Chi-Med's wholly-owned drug research and developmentcompany and has a team of around 120 scientists and staff focusing on botanicaldrugs, semi-synthetic natural product drugs, and synthetic single chemicalentity drugs. It currently has two candidates in clinical development in boththe US and China. HMPL-002, a radiosensitiser for head and neck and non-smallcell lung cancer, is in Phase I/II in the US and in proof-of-concept in China.HMPL-004, an inhibitor to a group of inflammatory cytokines, for treatment ofinflammatory bowel diseases, including Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis,is in Phase II in the US and in proof-of-concept in China. Hutchison MediPharmaalso has a pipeline of single molecular entity discovery projects in theauto-immune/inflammatory diseases and oncology therapeutic areas which haveshown activity against clinically validated targets. Chi-Med is majority owned by Hutchison Whampoa Limited, an internationalcorporation listed on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange