Taihua's pretax 2006 profits leap 74%

Taihua, a London, UK Alternative Investment Market-listed Chinese firm, says that its full-year 2006 pretax profits grew 74% on the comparable period the year before, to 30.1 million renminbi ($3.9 million), as earnings per share rose 75% to 0.35 renminbi.

Richard Tanner, chairman of the firm, which specializes in cancer drugs developed from traditional Chinese medicines, says that the strong results bode well for its planned expansion into Europe. He noted that the company is on track to submit applications for the necessary Certificates of Suitability and Good Manufacturing Practice in July.

Taihua sells the anticancer active pharmaceutical ingredient paclitaxel in China, Russia, South America, and recently won a license in South Korea (Marketletter February 12), directly distributing the agent to Korean drug manufacturers.