HONG KONG - Singapore-based biotech Aum Biosciences Pte. Ltd., and Toronto, Canada-based biotech Cyclica Inc. have agreed to work together to apply Cyclica’s drug discovery platform in Aum’s R&D programs for the discovery of potential new cancer therapies. Aum will deploy its drug R&D skills including a biomarker-driven approach while Cyclica will contribute its AI-augmented platforms, Ligand Design and Ligand Express.
BEIJING – Hong Kong-headquartered Hutchison China Meditech Ltd.’s (Chi-Med) called an early stop to its phase III pivotal study of surufatinib in advanced pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NET) in China after it met the predefined primary endpoint of progression-free survival.
Shanghai-based I-Mab Biopharma Co. Ltd. became the first IPO out of the gate this year, pricing its IPO of about 7.4 million American depositary shares (ADSs) – each 10 representing 23 ordinary shares of the company, par value $0.0001 per share – at $14 each, within the planned range of $12 at the low end and $15 at the high. But the stock’s performance might not have been all investors hoped, as shares (NASDAQ:IMAB) closed at $12.50 Jan. 17.
HONG KONG – Bionetix Inc., of Suwon, South Korea, has secured ₩10.8 billion (US$9.33 million) in series B funding. The biotech, founded in February 2017, has attracted a total of KRW14.7 billion to date. The company will use the funds to advance NTX-301, a therapy for myelodysplastic syndrome/acute myeloid leukemia (MDS/AML) with epigenetic dysregulation, and NTX-101, a glaucoma treatment.
SAN FRANCISCO – Following years of mutual admiration, Germany's Biontech SE is moving to acquire Cambridge, Mass.-based Neon Therapeutics Inc., a neoantigen-based T-cell therapy specialist, in an all-stock transaction valued at about $67 million.
BEIJING – In a deal that adds another clinical-stage program to its pipeline, U.S.-China biotech Oncologie Inc. has picked up global rights to phase II-ready anti-DLL4/VEGF bispecific antibody navicixizumab from London-based Mereo Biopharma Group plc.
HONG KONG – In less than a year, China-based Shanghai Miracogen Inc. has extended its partnership with Oss, the Netherlands based Synaffix BV for a second antibody-drug conjugate (ADCs) candidate. The new deal is similar to one signed last year in that it gives Miracogen nonexclusive rights to Synaffix’s Glycoconnect and Hydraspace ADC technologies for use in a second clinical candidate.
It is equally fair to say that lung cancer treatment has come a long way, and that it has a long way to go. Speaking at a joint conference by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer and the American Association for Cancer Research on lung cancer translational research, William Pao remembered the stark realities of being an oncology fellow at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center just 20 years ago, when the main lung cancer “procedure” done by trainees was to get a DNR, or do-not-resuscitate order, from their patients.
SAN FRANCISCO – Guardant Health Inc. has set the standard for liquid biopsy. That success has catapulted the Redwood City, Calif.-based company from an IPO in the fall of 2018 to a current valuation in excess of $7 billion. It has made its name – and much of its revenue – with its Guardant360 test, a molecular diagnostic test that assesses 74 cancer-related genes from the circulating tumor DNA to aid in designing the best treatment for advanced cancer patients with solid tumors.
Adaptimmune plc continued its bright start to the year by entering an alliance worth up to $897.5 million with Astellas Pharma Inc. to co-develop and co-commercialize stem cell-based allogeneic CAR T and T-cell receptor (TCR) cell therapies.
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