BEIJING – Three-year-old Asia-focused startup Everest Medicines Ltd. closed one of the biggest financing rounds in China’s health care market this year, adding $310 million to its war chest. The firm is aiming to advance its late-stage assets in-licensed from global partners to the China market soon.
Accent Therapeutics Inc. will receive $55 million up front and as much as $1.1 billion in milestones as part of a substantial new three-molecule deal with Astrazeneca plc, which committed to exploring what Astrazeneca’s oncology chief, José Baselga, called the "compelling" field of targeting RNA-modifying proteins (RMPs) for the treatment of cancer.
Chinese biotech firm Beigene Ltd. said its second-generation BTK inhibitor, Brukinsa (zanubrutinib), has won approval in China for two indications, entering a market dominated by Imbruvica (ibrutinib, Johnson & Johnson/Abbvie Inc.). The NDA approval came eight months after Brukinsa’s clearance in the U.S.
New interim phase II data from Replimune Group Inc., of Woburn, Mass., show RP-1 and Opdivo (nivolumab, Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co.) produced multiple complete responses and a high rate of deep responses in anti-PD-1/anti-CTLA-refractory melanoma.
HONG KONG – China’s Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd. has struck a deal with Merck KGaA for a clinical trial program in China to investigate the efficacy and safety of Junshi’s anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody (MAb), Tuoyi (toripalimab) in combination with Merck’s Erbitux (cetuximab) as a treatment for recurrent and/or metastatic squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (SCCHN).
Overall, data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology virtual meeting over the weekend appear to have garnered investor approval, with the BioWorld Cancer index advancing 3%, by market close Monday, and a further 1.7% by the closing bell today.
A key opinion leader (KOL) consulted by SVB Leerink deemed Roche Holding AG’s anti-TIGIT drug results “really huge” and “quite amazing,” affirming the Basel, Switzerland-based firm’s lead in the field. The phase II data from the study known as Cityscape rolled out at the virtual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting.
In data taken from three expansion cohorts of Exelixis Inc.’s phase Ib study of Cabometyx and Tecentriq in patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors, a 27% objective response rate was seen in those with immune checkpoint inhibitor-pretreated non-small-cell lung cancer.
Gone from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting were the packed halls of McCormick Place in Chicago and the excited bustle of scientists reacquainting with each other at the always data-rich event. ASCO’s annual confab, held online because of the COVID-19 pandemic, still managed to pull off what former president Howard Burris called a “resounding success,” with about 40,000 registrants, similar to previous years.
Allogene Therapeutics Inc. investors will have to wait for an update in the second half of this year to find out more about whether off-the-shelf ALLO-501 can durably stand up to autologous CAR T-cell therapies, but early data disclosed at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting is creating buzz in the meantime.
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