Validating Fusion Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s radiopharmaceutical technology and manufacturing capabilities, Astrazeneca plc offered to buy the firm for $2 billion up front in cash, plus a contingent value right that could raise the total deal value by another $400 million.

Chinese biotechs Biotheus Inc. and Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. partnered again under a new potential ¥5 billion (US$698.98 million) deal to develop bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (BsADCs), using Biotheus’ EGFR-cMet bispecific antibody.

The U.S. FDA has approved Beigene Co. Ltd.’s Tevimbra (tislelizumab-jsgr) as a monotherapy for treating adults with unresectable or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma following prior chemotherapy that did not include a PD-1 inhibitor. A humanized IgG4 anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, tislelizumab is designed to minimize binding to Fc-gamma receptors on macrophages, helping to aid the body’s immune cells to detect and fight tumors.

Asieris Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd plans to submit a China NDA in the second quarter following positive phase III data for its cold light photodynamic drug-device combination product, Cevira, which is used as nonsurgical therapy for treating high-grade cervical dysplasia.

China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) approved Kechow Pharma Inc.’s MEK inhibitor, tunlametinib, for treatment of patients with NRAS-mutated advanced melanoma who were previously treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors. The Center for Drug Evaluation granted tunlametinib a priority review. The approval marks the first targeted therapy for this patient population and the first product that originated from Kechow, a privately held firm founded in 2014 to develop small-molecule therapeutics against cancer.