New Joint Venture Focused on Multi-Million Dollar Short-Term Revenue Opportunities
CALGARY, Feb. 2, 2012 /CNW/ - SemBioSys Genetics Inc. (TSX:SBS), today announced that its product and platform development collaboration agreement (the "Agreement") with Tasly Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd ("Tasly") of Tianjin, China, and its wholly owned subsidiary Tasly US have received all necessary Chinese (People's Republic of China and local Chinese Government) approvals and the business license for the newly formed Company based in Tianjin, China, Tasly-SemBioSys Bio-Pharmaceutical, Technology Co., Ltd., to commercialize near, medium and long-term healthy living, nutritional, and pharmaceutical products utilizing Tasly and SemBioSys' plant-based technology and expertise.
"Today's announcement is part of a larger strategic plan for SemBioSys and Tasly to collaborate on a number of fronts," said James Szarko, President and CEO of SemBioSys. "With this long approval process now completed we will rapidly develop and commercialize a number of exciting new products into Tasly's well established distribution channels," he concluded.
The new Company is structured as a Sino-Foreign Equity Joint Venture (the "Joint Venture"), and will develop and commercialize products for China and the world. Development work on the first products and product programs is already under way. Select products and programs that are under evaluation or under development with a range of timelines are listed below:
Near Term
Research and develop a new generation of Modern traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) products utilizing oilbodies to develop and further enhance TCM products. The total international TCM market is estimated to be US$20 billion and Tasly's revenues are approximately US$1 billion growing at in excess of 20% per annum.
Develop a line of functional food and beverages based on oilbodies that result from SemBioSys' patented oil seed processing platform. The oil and proteins are produced in a continuous cold system that does not denature the oil and proteins, resulting in higher quality products with greater market value than those currently produced using standard heat and hexane extraction methods. The global functional food and beverage market is estimated to exceed US$130 billion by 2015. Tasly recently entered this exciting new market and believes its current distribution provides huge upside growth potential in China based on the results of its initial products.
Mid Term
Continue development of SemBioSys' protein feed additive for the global aquaculture markets. China's market accounts for approximately 70% of the global aquaculture market, which is estimated to be US$86 billion annually.
Research and develop modified oils for nutritional health.
Long Term
Continue development of plant produced insulin for China and the rest of world. Initial program would explore growing requirements and optimizing seed yield for Chinese agriculture.
Research projects related to the discovery and development of plant-made pharmaceuticals and TCMs.