Endu Receives Gold Medal for Outstanding Chinese Patented Invention Award

NANJING, CHINA, March 4 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Simcere Pharmaceutical Group (NYSE: SCR), a leading manufacturer and supplier of branded generic pharmaceuticals and manufacturer of the patented anti-cancer biotech product Endu in China, announced today that the company is a gold medal winner of the 10th Outstanding Chinese Patented Invention Award bestowed by the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO).

The award, established by SIPO in 1989, is the exclusive government patent award held every two years to encourage technology innovation and to boost intellectual property protection, and has been approved by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

SIPO received 318 applicants for the 10th Outstanding Chinese Patented Invention Award from all over the country recommended by the ministries, local IP administrations, nation-level enterprises, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the members of Chinese Academy of Engineering. Fifteen outstanding Chinese patent invention gold medal winners were selected after several rounds of strict examination.

The award is for the methodology pioneered by Simcere to produce Endu, a modified version of endostatin, which has brought tremendous social benefit to thousands of patients across China. Endu has been engineered to contain an additional nine-amino acid sequence to enhance protein purification, solubility and stability and has been shown to improve the function of endostatin, which is a genetically engineered protein that interferes with the growth of blood vessels to a tumor, thereby starving and preventing the growth of tumor cells.

About Simcere Pharmaceutical Group

Simcere Pharmaceutical Group (NYSE: SCR; Simcere) is a leading manufacturer and supplier of branded generic pharmaceuticals and manufacturer of the patented anti-cancer biotech product Endu in the rapidly growing China market. In recent years, Simcere has focused its strategy on the development of first-to-market generic and innovative pharmaceuticals, and has introduced a first-to-market generic stoke management medication under the brand name Bicun and an innovative anti-cancer medication under the brand name Endu. Simcere currently manufactures and sells more than 50 pharmaceutical products including antibiotics, anti-cancer medication and stroke management medication and is the exclusive distributor of three additional pharmaceuticals that are marketed under its brand names. Simcere concentrates its research and development efforts on the treatment of diseases with high incidence and/or mortality rates and for which there is a clear demand for more effective pharmacotherapy such as cancer, strokes, osteoporosis and infectious diseases and currently has more than 12 pipeline products. For more information about Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, please visit http://www.simcere.com .