(Yicai) July 16 -- China's Lionco Pharmaceutical is linking arms with Laboratoire Bailly-Creat to produce drugs according to the French pharmaceutical firm’s requirements which will then be sold through the French firm’s vast international sales network.

Lionco will produce injections for Laboratoire Bailly-Creat that meet China’s Good Manufacturing Practices standards, including its omeprazole sodium injection for the treatment of gastric disorders, at its production base in Hainan, Lionco said yesterday, citing the strategic cooperation framework agreement recently penned by the two parties.

Laboratoire Bailly-Creat, which was founded in 1908 and has a sales network across more than 20 countries, will then distribute the medicines in overseas markets, such as Vietnam and Cambodia as well as African countries, said Lionco, which mainly produces drugs for the digestive system and parenteral nutrition, which is the feeding of nutritional products to a person intravenously.

In the future, Lionco will also use its Hainan production bases to produce medicines in solid form for Laboratoire Bailly-Creat according to the Vernouillet-based company’s requirements, it said. Lionco will also assist Laboratoire Bailly-Creat to buy active pharmaceutical ingredients in China.

Lionco, which has lost money for the past three years, said that the tie-up will make full use of its idle drug capacity to open up overseas markets and at the same time boost its performance and improve cash flow.

Lionco’s share price [SHA:603669] closed down 0.6 percent at CNY4.45 (USD0.61). Earlier in the day it surged 3.5 percent to CNY4.64.

Editor: Kim Taylor