A nearly $2 billion global development and commercialization deal with Abbvie Inc. and a $418 million private placement have bolstered I-Mab Biopharma Co. Ltd.’s position globally. I-Mab framed the deal as being the largest out-licensing and global partnership transaction ever executed by a China-based biotech. Abbvie and I-Mab plan to develop and commercialize the anti-CD47 monoclonal antibody lemzoparlimab for treating multiple cancers globally, with the exception of China. Lemzoparlimab, also called TJC-4, is Shanghai-based I-Mab’s discovery and its lead cancer therapy. The company will get an up-front $180 million by licensing the highly differentiated antibody to Abbvie, along with a $20 million milestone payment based on phase I results.
DUBLIN – Shares in Polyphor AG gained as much as 12% during early trading Aug. 31 on news of a deal in China for its lead drug, balixafortide, which is currently undergoing a phase III trial in HER2-negative locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer.
LONDON – Ion Beam Applications SA (IBA) has taken a giant step into China, sealing a €100 million-plus (US$118.2 million) licensing deal with a local company to manufacture, install and maintain its proton beam cancer therapy systems.
Innovent Biologics Inc., of Suzhou, has out-licensed ex-China rights for its PD-1 drug Tyvyt (sintilimab) to Eli Lilly and Co. in an expanded license deal. The Chinese firm will receive $200 million upfront in the deal, the value of which could approach up to $1.03 billion. Innovent’s CEO Michael Yu called this “the first solid step in getting Innovent's innovative portfolio into the global market.” With the ex-China rights of Tyvyt, Lilly plans to seek approval for the PD-1 drug in the U.S. and other markets.
HONG KONG – Singapore-based Tessa Therapeutics Pte. Ltd. released the results of two investigator-initiated phase I/II trials that found its autologous CD30 CAR T-cell therapy TT-11 showed a high rate of durable complete responses and a favorable safety profile in patients with relapsed/refractory Hodgkin lymphoma.
HONG KONG – China’s Lianyungang-based Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co. Ltd. has obtained approval from Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) to begin a phase III trial for a combination therapy of its PD-1 inhibitor candidate camrelizumab and VEGFR-2 inhibitor rivoceranib.
PERTH, Australia – Patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (r/r AML) who have received three or more lines of therapy are often too sick to get much-needed bone marrow transplants and often run out of options.
Terns Pharmaceuticals Inc., a NASH specialist based in San Francisco and Shanghai, has out-licensed the Greater China rights of its BCR-ABL inhibitor, TRN-000632, for treating chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) to Chinese pharma giant Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. to move the preclinical oncology asset to the clinic faster.
Chinese biosimilar maker Shanghai Henlius Biotech Inc. won EMA approval for its Zercepac, a biosimilar to Roche Holding AG’s Herceptin (trastuzumab) on July 28. Henlius CEO Scott Liu told BioWorld that Zercepac will be the first Chinese monoclonal antibody biosimilar to enter the EU market, setting a precedent for Chinese drugmakers seeking to join the global race in biosimilars.
Nanjing, China-based Simcere Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. became the second Chinese player to seek assets from G1 Therapeutics Inc., of Research Park Triangle, N.C., this year. On Tuesday, it licensed trilaciclib, an intravenous CDK4/6 inhibitor, from G1 Therapeutics in a $170 million deal for Greater China rights.
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