Buckeyes - I'm perplexed as to why many think that Hepalink may be a problem for a deal to be made. They own the manufacturing and distribution for China and the territories period. The rest of the world is open. Most deals that I have seen give little or no value to the China market anyway. Look at the potential sales for the markets outside of the areas that are not already licensed, put a value on it with whatever adjustments that need to be included and make your deal.

As far as I know Hepalink is mostly a B2B business at this time anyway. More than 70% of their sales are to just a hand full of companies. Taking on distribution in China and the territories is a big step forward for Hepa and may be the reason for their recent IPO. It costs a lot of money to hire and train a sales force from the ground up. That geographic area represents a lot of people and will require a lot of sales reps at a significant upfront cost. A number of BP's have expressed challenges in the past with distribution in those areas and that it would best be served by Chinese nationals. It may actually be a big benefit for a potential purchaser as there may end up being a number of synergies that could lead to a sales force that could not only represent ABL but any number of drugs that the potential purchaser may want to sell in that market that currently doesn't have good representation there already.

Licensed areas and royalties are something that is not uncommon in the drug business. There are formulas and formats that have been used in past deals that show good deals can be made. Its not messy, its just negotiating points that are not significant points to get hung up on.

tada