SHANGHAI, Jan. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- ShangPharma Corporation (NYSE: SHP) ("ShangPharma" or the "Company"), a leading China-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology research and development outsourcing company, today announced that it has reached the first milestone in its strategic partnership with Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co., Ltd. ("Hengrui"), a leading Chinese pharmaceutical company, to develop novel therapeutic monoclonal antibodies ("mAbs").

"Achieving this first milestone is an important step forward in our development of therapeutic antibodies," said Dr. Lianshan Zhang, Hengrui's President of Global R&D. "We are pleased that we have achieved this just a few months into our strategic partnership with ShangPharma's biologics division."

"We are delighted that this ground breaking collaboration to develop novel therapeutic monoclonal antibodies in China is rapidly producing results," said Michael Xin Hui, founder and Chief Executive Officer of ShangPharma. "We believe that reaching this strategically important milestone is just the first of many achievements that the relationship between ShangPharma and Hengrui will yield."

The long-term collaborative project includes three additional specific milestone targets. The goal of the strategic partnership is to deliver a drug candidate.

About Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co., Ltd.

Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co., Ltd., established in 1970, is a fully integrated pharmaceutical company in China, with net sales of about US$550 million in 2010. The company has been experiencing organic growth at an annual rate of 25% in the past few years. It is recognized as the top innovative home-grown drug company, with over a dozen of new molecular entities in clinical trials and dozens more under pre-clinical development. Hengrui's products and R&D span over multiple therapeutic areas, such as oncology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, CNS, inflammation, hematology and anesthesiology. For more information, please visit http://www.hrs.com.cn.

About ShangPharma

ShangPharma Corporation is a leading China-based contract research organization providing high-quality and cost-effective services for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. It offers a broad range of high-quality, integrated services across the drug discovery and development process to help international and Chinese pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies discover and develop novel drug candidates efficiently. ShangPharma's services consist of discovery chemistry, discovery biology and preclinical development, pharmaceutical development and biologics services. For more information, please visit www.shangpharma.com.

Safe Harbor: Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "aim," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "likely to" or other similar expressions. The Company has based these forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that it believes may affect its financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. The quotations from management in this press release contain forward-looking statements. The Company may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed or furnished with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements and are subject to change, and such change may be material and may have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition and results of operations for one or more periods. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained, either expressly or impliedly, in any of the forward-looking statements in this press release. The Company expects to face potential risks and uncertainties related to its ability to, among other things, attract, train, motivate and retain skilled scientists; diversify its customer base and adapt to potential loss of sales to, or significant reduction in orders from, any of its major customers; adapt its business to industry trends, such as fluctuations in the R&D budgets of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry participants; protect the intellectual property rights of its customers; comply with applicable regulations and industry standards; compete effectively in its industry, which may subject it to increasing pricing pressure and reduce the demand for its services; expand and market its services and manage its growth; and develop and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting; as well as other risks outlined in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any such information, except as required under applicable law. 


    For further information, please contact:

    ShangPharma
    Ms. Lan Xie
    VP of Finance and Investor Relations
    Email: ir@shangpharma.com

    Brunswick Group
    Josh Gartner
    Email: shangpharma@brunswickgroup.com
    Phone: 86-10-5960-8600

SOURCE ShangPharma Corporation