MediciNova, a biopharmaceutical company publicly traded on the Nasdaq Global Market and the Jasdaq Market of the Osaka Securities Exchange and Zhejiang Medicine traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange announced the signing of a letter of intent for the formation of a Joint Venture Company to develop and commercialize MediciNova's MN-221 in China. MN-221 is a treatment for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations. Preclinical testing in vitro and in vivo shows MN-221 to be more selective for the beta(2)-adrenergic receptor than other beta(2)-adrenergic receptor agonists commonly used for acute exacerbations of asthma. "The formation of the Joint Venture Company with Zhejiang Medicine provides a unique opportunity to advance the development of MN-221 with a very successful Chinese pharmaceutical partner," said Dr Yuichi Iwaki Chief Executive Officer of MediciNova; Chunbo Li, Chairman of Zhejiang Medicine, commented, "This JV can provide an enabling path for MN-221 as a promising therapeutic to become available to the millions of patients in China who suffer from acute bronchospasm. We are very pleased to be joining with MediciNova in providing better solutions for asthma patients."