Antibody-drug conjugates are the hot spot for deals in Asia, but investors questioned whether oncology is really the place to be, during the Asia Bio Partnering Forum in Singapore April 24 to 25.
Seven years after embarking on in vivo therapeutic development using CRISPR/Cas gene-editing technology with Intellia Therapeutics Inc., Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. is bringing another company into the collaborative fold. Regeneron will pay Mammoth Biosciences Inc. $100 million, including $95 million as an equity investment, and an up-front payment. Mammoth also could bring in up to $370 million for each target in milestones along with royalties on net sales from products created through the collaboration.
With a frozen IPO market, investors are tightening their belts and figuring out where to hedge their bets. In Asia, that means having different strategies for different countries while keeping a global mindset, venture capital (VC) investors said during the Asia Bio Partnering Forum in Singapore on April 25.
Big pharma continues to seek innovation in China despite rising geopolitical tension, speakers said at the Asia Bio Partnering Forum in Singapore April 24.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. has tapped into Treefrog Therapeutics SA’s high-throughput stem cell manufacturing technology in a deal worth potentially up to $780 million to help it advance its type 1 diabetes programs, including phase I/II asset VX-880.
In the initial quarter of 2024, biopharma deal value totaled $43.99 billion, surpassing the values of two quarters last year and falling short of two others. Biopharma M&As, meanwhile, reached $50.06 billion, marking a decrease from the fourth quarter last year’s $84.03 billion but exceeding the values of the other three quarters.
BNC Korea Inc. is picking up exclusive commercial rights to Kariya Pharmaceuticals ApS’ dual GLP-1/GIP agonists for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease in five countries – a move that comes shortly after BNC Korea dropped $1.5 million into the Danish pharma for a 4.5% stake.
South Korea’s SK Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. and Shanghai-based Ignis Therapeutic Co. Ltd. signed a ₩804 billion (US$58 million) licensing deal on April 18, granting the latter global rights to a non-narcotic pain treatment candidate dubbed SKL-22544. A sodium channel blocker, SKL-22544 is in late discovery.
Skyhawk Therapeutics Inc. signed on to work with Ipsen SA in a neurological disease-focused deal worth potentially $1.8 billion to discover and develop novel small molecules that modulate RNA. The deal is an option agreement for exclusive global rights to two candidates. Once the parties have identified and validated those candidates, Paris-based Ipsen will take on all further development and commercialization.
In a deal that could exceed $1 billion for Ochre Bio Ltd., the U.K.-based liver disease therapy developer will collaborate with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH. In the meantime, Hepion Pharmaceuticals Inc. shut down its lead candidate’s phase IIb study while looking for a lifeline.
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