HONG KONG – Tapping into synergies it sees between the U.S. and Chinese biotech industries, Suzhou, China-based Ascentage Pharma Group International is aiming to get its most advanced candidate, HQP-1351, to market this year.
BEIJING – Beigene Ltd. out-licensed its anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody tislelizumab to Novartis AG in a deal worth up to $2.2 billion, including $650 million up front. Novartis gains rights to develop and commercialize tislelizumab in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the EU, the U.K., Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Russia and Japan.
HONG KONG – Hutchison China Meditech Ltd. (Chi-Med) earned approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for Sulanda (surufatinib) for the treatment of non-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETs).
Following a record-shattering year, terms were set for the first two biotech IPOs of 2021 in deals that could generate up to $300 million. Cullinan Oncology LLC, of Cambridge, Mass., set terms Jan. 4 for raising about $150 million by pricing 8.3 million shares in the $17 to $19 range.
HONG KONG – Hummingbird Bioscience Pte. Ltd. is collaborating with artificial intelligence (AI) company Tempus Labs Inc. to advance HMBD-001, a differentiated anti-HER3 neutralizing antibody developed using Hummingbird's Rational Antibody Discovery platform, into clinical trials in HER3-driven cancers.
HONG KONG – Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd.’s toripalimab has reached its prespecified primary endpoint of progression-free survival at the interim analysis of a phase III study in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as efforts to expand approval of the anti-PD-1 antibody into other cancer types are underway.
Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd. said it's "actively initiating" multiregional phase II/III trials to test a combination of GT-90001 (ascrinvacumab) and Opdivo (nivolumab) for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma.
BEIJING – Denovo Biopharma LLC closed a series D financing round to raise nearly ¥300 million (US$46 million), just six months after its $83.5 million series C round.
Clinical-stage biopharma HBM Holdings Ltd. (also known as Harbour Biomed) debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Dec. 10, raising HK$1.71 billion (US$220.7 million) to advance its autoimmune candidates to commercial launches in 2023.