China’s Rundo International Clinical Research Co., Ltd. and Japan-based CRONOVA recently announced the formation of a joint venture contract research organization (CRO) in Shanghai, China on 19 December, 2007. Rundo holds a 65 per cent stake in the new company and CRONOVA takes the remaining 35 per cent. The newly established company is the first ever joint venture CRO in China.
This is a huge an rapidly-expanding part of the overall outsourcing and biotech market over here. Lots of ways that clinical stuff and outsourced research gets done, from straight contracting to mixed structures with lots of services providers (e.g., consultants, lawyers, etc.) getting involved. Some foreign companies also do this sort of thing from WFOE platforms or Rep Offices and then deal with the local service providers and institutions either directly or as a supervisor/advisor.
Frankly, using a JV for this sort of thing surprises me. Not sure what the advantage is here for CRONOVA, particularly since they're only getting a 35% stake. I don't know anything about them, though, or who the JV's customers would be. The article suggests that the local company is the one with the customers, with the Japanese firm bringing in management expertise and systems. If that's true, 35% might ultimately be a pretty good deal for CRONOVA, but then again, there is no guarantee that this JV is going to be run well.