Metis Techbio Co. Ltd. is seeking a potential HK$2.11 billion (US$270 million) raise through a stock sale May 13, marking the largest biotech raise on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this year to date. Hangzhou, China-based Metis is an AI-based nanoparticle drug formulation and delivery-focused company. Synthetic lethality-based cancer drugmaker Impact Therapeutics Inc., of Shanghai, plans to debut on the same day with a US$117 million IPO.
Fractyl Health Inc. has received clinical trial application authorization in the Netherlands to initiate a first-in-human phase I/II study of RJVA-001, the first clinical candidate from the company’s Rejuva Smart GLP-1 gene therapy platform.
Shares of MBX Biosciences Inc. hit a 52-week high on preliminary phase I data for its MBX-4291, a GLP-1/GIP co-agonist prodrug for obesity. Though early and still blinded, findings from the trial showed promising efficacy, along with good tolerability and the potential for once-monthly dosing, factors that will likely be critical for MBX to compete in the crowded obesity space.
Reports that Sanofi SA has asked to withdraw its sBLA for Tzield (teplizumab) from the U.S. FDA’s Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher (CNPV) program is once again raising questions about whether leadership skepticism is overruling approval decisions at the agency.
In a deal that could be worth up to $1 billion for Suzhou Siran Biotechnology Co. Ltd. (Siranbio), GSK plc licensed exclusive worldwide rights to the siRNA oligonucleotide SA-030, which has recently entered phase I trials for cardiometabolic disease.
Work at Zhuhai United Laboratories Co. Ltd. has led to the identification of new apelin receptor (APLNR) agonists reported to be useful for the treatment of diabetes, heart failure, muscle atrophy, chronic kidney disease, pulmonary hypertension, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease, among others.
Researchers from Renbio Inc. and Louisiana State University investigated the delivery of plasmid DNA encoding new glucagon-like peptide-1(GLP-1)-based biologics with MYO (Make Your Own) technology as a new therapeutic strategy. This approach ensures the continuous production of GLP-1-based biologics for an extended period, overcoming the need for weekly dosing.
Three decades of trial-and-error, and the resulting safety data, in the oligonucleotide-based therapeutic space have paved way for the present-day innovations and the promise of “programmable,” precision medicine for patients, speakers at Bio Korea 2026 said April 28.
Three years after Johnson & Johnson handed back rights to an siRNA candidate targeting a genetic driver of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc. found a new partner in Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc., a firm that markets the first U.S. FDA-approved MASH drug, Rezdiffra (resmetirom), and has been building a pipeline in the space.
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