Collaboration is key
Luqa's business strategy is to acquire products and develop them further for the China market. With a team of 12 people, the company believes in keeping its operations small. "We intend to stay that way," says Mr Braithwaite, talking about the strength of the company. "We are not constrained by a large team, a large R&D lab, a factory or an army of sales reps. Our products dictate our resource allocation in the efforts to make our products leaders in their category."

As a result, the company banks heavily on outsourcing for clinical trials and partnerships for acquiring products. "Our partnership with Stratpharma of Switzerland is a fantastic example of collaboration and building on mutual strengths. We have just launched Strataderm for scars and have a superb pipeline plan that will see us jointly develop and commercialize some very unique products in the wound care, supportive care and consumer healthcare markets," explains Mr Braithwaite.

Luqa's products come from what the team calls their "search and development effort". "We have very clear parameters as to what defines the ideal China product for Luqa. Our strategy is to acquire products and develop or adapt them to the local needs. We have a healthy pipeline plan, and hope that 2013 will see plenty of news flow from us in respect to products," informs Mr Braithwaite.

At a time when drug development companies around the world are looking to tap the burgeoning China market, often through acquisitions and collaborations, a company such as Luqa provides opportunities for partnerships. "Partnering is key to our business model, so our philosophy as a company is that we all look for partnering opportunities. This goes all the way from the board of directors to our regulatory team. We are all business developers in this company. This is something that we continually try to remind the team," he says." We seeks to have partners who have innovation in their DNA, and are willing to work with us to maximize this innovation for China. This may mean new developments, studies, formulations, etc. tailored to the China market."

Luqa has granted exclusive rights to NewBridge Pharmaceuticals to develop, register, distribute and market Ebernet in Africa and Middle East, Turkey and the Caspion region where NewBridge will obtain required regulatory approvals and launch the product.