Bio-Thera Solutions Inc., of Guangzhou, China, and Tabuk Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Co., of Amman, Jordan, will collaborate to develop BAT-2206. Tabuk will have exclusive rights to manufacture, distribute and market the drug in Saudi Arabia. BAT-2206 is a proposed biosimilar to Stelara (ustekinumab, Johnson & Johnson).
Corxel Pharmaceuticals, of Shanghai, acquired CX-11 (VCT-220), an oral small-molecule glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist for worldwide development and commercialization, excluding greater China, from Vincentage, of Suzhou, China.
Exicure Inc., of Chicago, said it signed a memorandum of understanding with GPCR Therapeutics Inc., of Seoul, South Korea, aimed at the acquisition of GPCR USA, a GPCR Therapeutics subsidiary, and the technology transfer and collaborative research on GPCR Therapeutics’ ongoing drug development pipelines. Exicure will purchase all shares of GPCR USA held by the parent firm and, following that, intends to receive technology transfer for GPCR Therapeutics’ CXCR4 inhibitor, which is in phase II trials, along with related patents and intellectual property. Financial terms were not disclosed. GPCR Therapeutics had established its U.S. subsidiary in 2021. Exicure also reported that it completed its $8.7 million capital investment on Dec. 24, 2024.
Neuphoria Therapeutics Inc., of Burlington, Mass., will become the parent company of Bionomics Ltd., of Adelaide, Australia, in its re-domiciliation from Australia to the U.S. Bionomics has BNC-210, a negative allosteric modulator of α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, in a phase II study of treating post-traumatic stress disorder.
Rapt Therapeutics Inc., of South San Francisco, and Shanghai Jemincare Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Jiangxi Jemincare Group, of China, entered into an exclusive agreement for HYB-1904 (RPT-904), a half-life extended anti-immunoglobulin E monoclonal antibody. Rapt gains worldwide rights excluding mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan to develop RPT-904. Jemincare receives a $35 million up-front license fee, up to $672.5 million in regulatory and commercial milestone payments, and royalties on future sales. RPT-904 is being developed as an improved therapeutic option to Xolair (omalizumab, Roche AG), which is approved for allergic disorders, including asthma, chronic spontaneous urticaria, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps and food allergy.
Wuxi Apptec, of Philadelphia and Shanghai, said it entered a definitive agreement to sell the U.S.- and U.K.-based operations of Wuxi Advanced Therapies (ATU), its cell and gene therapy unit, to Altaris LLC, a health care investment firm headquartered in New York. Terms were not disclosed.