Simcere snaps up rights to Fermion’s analgesic, a potential Lilly competitor

Dealmaking may have slowed down as the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference came to an end, but the activity is expected to pick back up now that the biotech industry is back to work following the holiday weekend in the U.S.

Over the weekend, a pair of China-based companies reached an agreement for local rights to a clinical program targeting SSTR4 for pain, throwing more weight behind a molecule that could eventually compete with another therapy in its class from Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY)...