HONG KONG – Looking to boost its R&D capacity, China’s Sunshine Guojian Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. launched an IPO on July 22 that raised ¥1.7 billion (US$240 million) on Shanghai’s STAR market. Shares (SSE:688336) almost doubled in value on the first day of trading, closing at ¥54.10, for a gain of 92%.

Indigo Diabetes NV is working to develop a next-generation continuous glucose monitor (CGM) that would be much simpler and easier to use routinely, potentially making it more useful for a much larger population. It has just raised a €38 million ($44.5 million) series B financing to support that effort.

DUBLIN – Versant Ventures is committing $35 million in series A funding to Bright Peak Therapeutics Inc., which is developing a pipeline of engineered cytokines that are produced using a novel chemical synthesis technique rather than the recombinant methods that have underpinned more than four decades of biotechnology development.

LONDON - The combined force of Belgian life sciences has been brought together in the launch of Exevir Bio BV, which arrives on the scene with a €23 million (US$27 million) series A and ready for a phase I study of its novel antiviral therapy in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

A medical device company has partnered with a couple of investment firms to tap new technologies and help bring them back to China. Venus Medtech (Hangzhou) Inc. formed a health care investment platform, Ascendum Capital Partners, to invest in new medical devices and technologies around the world, particularly in the cardiovascular and lung disease spaces.