South Korean biosimilar-focused Alteogen Inc. said on March 27 that Chung Hye-shin, former chief strategy officer (CSO) and co-founder, sold 1.6 million of Alteogen shares for ₩316.4 billion (US$234.24 million) to foreign institutional investors.

In a potential watershed moment for South Korea’s Hanmi Group, a hair-splitting vote at the 51st shareholder meeting favored the two sons of the late founder and Chairman Lim Sung-ki, effectively halting a merger between Hanmi and OCI Holdings Co. Ltd.

Xilio Therapeutics Inc. retreated with its lead oncology IL-2 drug, XTX-202, after phase II data indicated stable disease was the best response, prompting the company to reprioritize its pipeline and cut its workforce by 21% – but investors focused more on a $647.5 million IL-12 program deal the company signed with Gilead Sciences Inc., as well as an $11.3 million private placement financing.

As investment in Asia biohubs continues into 2024, Merck KGaA’s Milliporesigma is the latest to drop more than €300 million (US$328 million) into a new bioprocessing production center in Daejeon, South Korea.

Nuvation Bio Inc. said on March 25 it will acquire Anheart Therapeutics Ltd., a U.S.- and China-based precision oncology company, in an all-stock transaction, adding Anheart’s ROS1-inhibiting lung cancer drug, taletrectinib (AB-106), to its pipeline.

In what co-founder and CEO Claudia Ulbrich called the “right decision with right partner at the right point in time,” Cardior Pharmaceuticals GmbH agreed to an acquisition by Novo Nordisk A/S in a deal worth up to €1.025 billion (US$1.1 billion) that puts a potentially disease-modifying heart failure candidate in the hands of a big pharma player in the midst of establishing its presence in cardiovascular disease.