Over the past two years, we have been working closely with Guangxi Wuzhou Pharmaceutical on an informal basis as our drug supplier. This collaboration formalizes the relationship between our companies to work together to maximize the global potential for VAL-083 to benefit cancer patients and create shareholder value.

How important is this collaboration to DelMar?
The collaboration with Guangxi Wuzhou Pharmaceutical is important to DelMar Pharma for several reasons. It provides us with a near-term opportunity to benefit patients, and generate revenue, from our North American-based research in the Chinese market where the drug is already approved as a cancer chemotherapy for CML and lung cancer.

The partnership also provides us with funding from our partner to support future clinical research that we may conduct in China. It provides us with an exclusive relationship with the only manufacturer of the VAL-083 drug product in the world.

What is your take on the market in the Asia Pacific region and how are you planning to tap this market?
The Asia Pacific region represents a rapidly growing market for cancer therapies based on increasing incidence of major cancer types such as lung cancer; improved diagnostics and access-to-care; and a growing middle class with the financial resources to support the entry of modern drugs into the region. For example, in 2011, the Chinese pharmaceutical market grew by more than 25 percent as compared to six-to-seven percent in the US and Europe, and the dragon nation is set to become the second largest pharmaceutical market behind the US by 2020.

In general, our strategy for tapping the Asia Pacific market is based on the following general concepts. Firstly, we use VAL-083's unique mechanism. DelMar's data suggests that VAL-083 has the potential to benefit CML and lung cancer patients that are failing main-stay drugs in those indications known as tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).