Starpharma Holdings Ltd.'s nanoscale drug delivery technology shows enhanced safety and durable responses in phase II trials compared to standard of care therapies in patients with advanced colorectal and ovarian cancer.

HLB Co. Ltd. is ready to take half of the liver cancer treatment market with its potential first-line treatment, rivoceranib, currently undergoing U.S. FDA review, company chairman Jin Yang-gon said, backed by positive survival data that beat out competitors by three months.

Genexine Co. Ltd.’s recombinant human growth hormone eftansomatropin alfa (GX-H9/TJ-101) met the primary endpoint in a phase III pediatric study conducted in China in children with growth hormone deficiency, and the company plans to file a BLA in 2024 in China on the data.

Omnix Medical Ltd. is gearing up for a phase II trial next year of its novel peptide-based antibiotic OMN-6, the lead compound in a pipeline inspired by the antimicrobial strategies of insects.

The first seven months of 2023 saw clinical trial data up 1.43% compared to the same time period last year. From January through July this year, BioWorld reported on 2,064 drugs in phase I-III, compared to 2,035 in the same time period in 2022. The number of trial updates is down 14.07% from the 2,402 in 2021 and down from 2020’s 2,096, but up 18.15% from 2019’s 1,747.

Hutchmed (China) Ltd.’s sovleplenib (HMPL-523) met the primary endpoint of durable response rate and all secondary endpoints in the pivotal phase III trial in adults with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in China.

South Korean pharmaceutical firms LG Chem Ltd. and JW Pharmaceutical Corp. are recouping and pressing on with their respective novel gout drugs internationally, with each having faced regulatory setbacks from IND rejections overseas.

Adalta Ltd. is gearing up to begin phase II trials of its lead i-body candidate, AD-214, in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), but it is hoping to find a pharma partner to fund the trials.