Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. announced plans to acquire Mindset Pharma Inc. for C$80 million (US$50.76 million) in an all-cash deal that will see Otsuka strengthen its neurology and psychiatric pipeline. Mindset, of Toronto, is developing next-generation psychedelic therapeutics to treat psychiatric and neurological disorders with high unmet needs.

Verismo Therapeutics Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of South Korea’s HLB Co. Ltd., inked a license agreement with the University of Pennsylvania for two newly discovered CD19 binders – one of which will be used to develop Synkir-310, its investigative CAR T therapy for blood cancers.

SK Bioscience Co. Ltd.  and Vaxxas Pty. Ltd. have entered into a joint development agreement that could revolutionize vaccines by developing a vaccine-delivery device combination product using Vaxxas’ high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) coupled with SK Bioscience’s typhoid vaccine, Skytyphoid.

Immuno-oncology company Imugene Ltd. has acquired a worldwide exclusive license to Precision Biosciences Inc.’s allogeneic CD19 CAR T-cell therapy program in a deal worth more than $227 million. The off-the-shelf CD19 CAR T-cell therapy, azercabtagene zapreleucel (azer-cel), could potentially be the first allogeneic CAR T to be approved, Imugene CEO Leslie Chong told BioWorld.

South Korea’s Celltrion Inc. is rolling out a tweaked plan to merge its three affiliates – electing for a two-way merger followed by consolidation with the final branch – in its latest efforts to rise through the ranks and emerge as a “true” big pharma.

With a U.S. biotech identified as One Bio, Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has inked an out-licensing deal potentially worth $1.05 billion for its asthma and chronic sinusitis-targeting drug, SHR-1905. The latest deal gives One Bio exclusive rights to develop, produce and commercialize SHR-1905 worldwide, excluding the greater China territory.

The June dip in biopharma deal value was short-lived, with July seeing 106 deals worth $17.57 billion, up 72.03% from $10.22 billion in July 2022.

Novavax Inc. has signed off 6.5 million shares to SK Bioscience Co. Ltd. for an $85 million equity investment from the South Korean pharmaceutical firm, which also wrote off some of Novavax’s manufacturing liabilities, as part of their continuing vaccine alliance. Seongnam-si, South Korea-based SK Bioscience purchased Novavax shares at $13 each, reflecting a 59% premium over the 90-day trading value, to gain a 6.45% stake in the Gaithersburg, Md.-based mRNA vaccine company, an SK Bioscience spokesperson confirmed to BioWorld.