From local drug discovery to global innovation, economic uncertainty is taking a toll on China’s innovative biotech system, forcing local companies to weather unpredictable storms, investors said during the Chinabio Partnering Forum in Shanghai in September.
In a deal worth up to $1 billion, Ideaya Biosciences Inc. is in-licensing Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.’s SHR-4849, a phase I DLL3-targeting opo-I-payload antibody-drug conjugate (ADC). Under terms of the deal, San Francisco-based Ideaya will develop and commercialize SHR-4849 worldwide outside of greater China, and Shanghai-based Hengrui is eligible to receive up to $1.04 billion that includes a $75 million up-front fee, $200 million in development and regulatory milestone payments, and commercial success-based milestone payments. Hengrui is also eligible to receive royalties on net sales outside of greater China.
Bristol Myers Squibb Co. has identified new substituted oxazolone protein-nucleic acid degraders acting as DNA-binding protein Ikaros (IKZF1) and zinc finger protein Helios (IKZF2), Aiolos (IKZF3) and Eos (IKZF4) degradation inducers reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Biomea Fusion Inc. has prepared new fused pyrimidine compounds acting as menin (MEN1)/KMT2A (MLL) interaction inhibitors. They are reported to be potentially useful for the treatment of cancer, osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, type 1 and 2 diabetes.
Prostatic-specific antigen (PSA) is commonly used as a screening tool for prostate cancer but presents limited sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, research efforts are focused on searching for novel noninvasive diagnostic biomarkers.
c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs) have been proposed as therapeutic targets in multiple pathologies, including cancer, inflammation and neuronal and metabolic diseases. SP-600125 is one of the first-generation reversible ATP-competitive inhibitors of JNK1/2/3 and has shown anticancer potential against leukemia, lung adenocarcinoma and pancreatic cancer, among others.
The protease mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma translocation 1 (MALT1) is a signaling protein with both molecular scaffolding and protease activity involved in lymphocyte activation. MALT1 is considered a therapeutic target for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in patients who develop resistance to Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors.
Due to its dual role in adaptive immune responses, modulation of endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 1 (ERAP1) is considered a potential strategy to both boost cancer immunotherapies or reduce self-antigen generation in the context of autoimmune diseases.
Among the most profound results presented at the 2024 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress were the 10-year data from the Checkmate-067 and Keynote-006 trials of Opdivo and Keytruda as first-line agents in advanced or metastatic melanoma in which 10-year overall survival topped 40%. The success of checkpoint blockade, however, has not extended to all tumor types, but in 2024, molecular studies have led to advances in gene therapies and a multitude of approaches that have opened the door to hope.
AI pulled in major financings and approvals for Asia med-techs in 2024 as Asia Pacific countries played to individual strengths to maximize AI’s applications in the health care sector. While breakaway AI technologies like OpenAI’s ChatGPT reshaped and boosted many industries, AI also drove major financings for APAC med-techs weathering a wider macroeconomic downturn, with AI-based companies accounting for five out of 11 IPOs tracked on BioWorld’s med-tech IPOs list.
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