Elvucitabine will (IMO) never amount to anything of consequence commercially—in China or elsewhere.
I'm sure you will be right on this point. I think the partner for the compound is pretty telling itself of how little interest there was in licensing the compound. It's pretty clear that it's the success of the HCV compounds, not the non-HCV compounds, that will determine the fate of ACHN.
The obvious question is: Why bother? For all practical purposes, Hepsera has been superseded by Viread. Even if Sigmapharm prevails in the patent litigation, by the time the 30-month Hatch-Waxman stay expires, US Hepsera sales will not amount to much.