Bear bile IPO halted as opponents cheer

Controversial bear bile extractor Guizhentang Pharmaceutical Co's dream of floating an IPO is dead in the water, the Beijing News reported Monday, citing the Fujian Province-based company.

Guizhentang has recently terminated its application to be listed on China's NASDAQ-style Growth Enterprise Market (GEM), according to the newspaper report, which quoted the company as saying it is now more important to seek expansion than an IPO.

Remarking that its product portfolios remain far from sufficient and there is still huge room for growth, the company stated that it plans to establish 600 outlets across the country over the next three years and achieve sales goals of 1 billion yuan ($163 million) within five years, the paper reported.

No statement concerning the IPO misfire was found on Guizhentang's website Monday, and the company could not be reached for comment.

But an announcement released on May 31 by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country's top securities watchdog, showed Guizhentang was among a total of 134 enterprises whose GEM IPO applications the commission has ceased reviewing. No reason was given for the termination of review.

Despite the IPO termination, Guizhentang said "the company won't rule out the possibility of resuming the IPO when the time ripens," according to the newspaper.

The bear bile extractor, which claims on its website to have the biggest black bear breeding base in South China, started its IPO attempt in early 2011 but has since faced angry uproar from animal welfare organizations and netizens for extracting bile from live bears.

"We welcome the termination, which marks a victory for opponents (of bile extraction)," Zhang Xiaohai, director of external affairs at activist group Animals Asia's mainland office, told the Global Times Monday.

Animals Asia has been at the forefront of the call for a ban on the bear bile extraction practice.

"We're not pointing fingers at one particular firm, but at the entire bear-breeding sector for animal cruelty," Zhang said, noting that man-made bear bile could be an alternative and the government should label the bile extraction practice illegal.

Wang Guoqiang, an official with the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said in March 2012 that many patients are reliant on medicine with components made from bear bile, and no qualified alternatives to live bear bile have been found so far.

But some experts argue that synthetic drugs can easily be made as an alternative to the chemical.