HONG KONG – South Korean med tech Olive Healthcare Inc. has attracted ₩8 billion (US$6.91 million) in series B funding. The Seoul-based company is focused on abdominal fat scanning and breast cancer diagnosis, using nonradiative and noninvasive near infrared (NIR) technology, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, and big data processing for a customized medical service.
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.
DUBLIN – Shares in Targovax ASA rose as much as 26% last Wednesday on news of an option and license agreement in China involving its peptide-based KRAS-directed cancer vaccines, TG-01 and TG-02.
Adagene Inc., an immuno-oncology company with operations in both the U.S. and China, has raised a $69 million series D financing to support its development of two monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and extension of its technology-driven in-house antibody design platform. Its two lead candidates are a phase I MAb targeting CD137 and a preclinical MAb targeting CTLA4.
China-based Innovent Biologics Inc. will need to get on two new tasks this year: Preparing for the first clinical trial for an anti-TIGIT antibody in China and investigating the combination therapy of its Tyvyt (sintilimab) and Sirnaomics Inc.’s STP-705.