Hebecell Corp. closed on a $53 million series A funding to continue advancing its off-the-shelf pluripotent stem cell CAR-natural killer cell (PSC-CAR-NK) therapy program into the clinic. Allen Feng, Hebecell’s chief scientific officer, has worked in stem cell development for more than 16 years. He’s seen a lot of technological change, especially in the past two years. Everyone is using the same technology, he said, but added that Hebecell’s technology is different from anyone else’s. It’s much simpler technology and has “very good potential” to move into large-scale industrial production.
Bristol Myers Squibb Co.’s Opdivo (nivolumab) is now the first and only immunotherapy for the first-line treatment of advanced gastric cancer in China.
Questions regarding rates of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) cropped up during Poseida Therapeutics Inc.’s conference call on preliminary data from nine patients in the company’s phase I trial of P-PSMA-101, an autologous CAR T product candidate to treat patients with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).
Binhui Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s BS-001, a recombinant human oncolytic herpes simplex virus type-2 expressing GM-CSF for the potential treatment of solid tumors, has gained an IND approval from the FDA. The development marks the first oncolytic viral candidate developed by a Chinese company to win a go-ahead for trials abroad, it said.
Beyondspring Inc. and Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. entered a ¥1.3 billion (US$200 million) deal to commercialize and co-develop the former’s selective immunomodulating microtubule-binding agent plinabulin in greater China.
Pharmacyte Biotech Inc. has raised $90 million to move its live cell encapsulation technology for cancer and diabetes further into the clinic. CEO Kenneth Waggoner told BioWorld that the first task is to work through studies and gather other information required by the FDA to get a clinical hold, imposed last November, lifted on trials in pancreatic cancer.
Vigencell Inc., a company focused on immune cell therapy, raised ₩99.4 (US$85.17 million) through an IPO on South Korea’s Kosdaq board and plans to use the funds to drive its R&D and company operations. “We particularly want to increase the competitiveness of our pipeline by advancing our technology and clinical development,” Vigencell CEO Tai-Gyu Kim told BioWorld. “We will also expand our discovery of new candidates and R&D in general, as well as updating our facilities and hiring researchers.”
Atavistik Bio Inc. has raised $60 million in a series A financing round to advance its preclinical molecules targeting genetically validated targets in metabolic diseases and cancer.
Adlai Nortye Biopharma Co. Ltd.’s $100 million series D financing in July threw new light on the enticing prospect of targeting EP4 in prostaglandin (PGE2)-driven cancers, and a number of players are lined up in the space.
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