SHANGHAI – Innovation-driven biotech companies are sprouting up in China and they now aim to gain a bigger global presence through conducting clinical trials not just in their home country but also abroad.

Botanix Pharmaceuticals Ltd., of Sydney, said it was awarded an AU$50,000 (US$33,788) Innovation Connections Grant from the Australian government to accelerate its medicinal chemistry program targeting the creation of synthetic analogues of cannabidiol and the investigation of cannabidiol's antimicrobial activity. 

HONG KONG – Upin & Co. Ltd., a fund and asset management company headquartered in London, plans to invest a total of KRW2 trillion (US$1.7 billion) over three years in the South Korean biopharma industry. The U.K. company will use a European fund and human resources network to organize the K-Bio Medical Development Fund (KBMDF), which will include funds of KRW300 billion for the first round, KRW700 billion for the second, and KRW1 trillion for the third round.

HONG KONG – Taiwan's National Health Insurance Administration has added Gilead Sciences Inc.'s Biktarvy (bictegravir + emtricitabine + tenofovir alafenamide), a once-daily single tablet for the treatment of adults with HIV-1, to its list of reimbursed medicines.

HONG KONG – South Korean biotech Bioleaders Co. Ltd., headquartered in Yong-in city, Gyeonggi-do, and Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science, based in Rehovot, recently founded a joint venture in Israel. With the new entity, they will accelerate the R&D of a Weizmann-developed approach targeting p53, a strong tumor suppressor that has proved difficult to drug.

HONG KONG – South Korea's Chong Kun Dang (CKD) Pharmaceutical Corp. received approval for its novel erythropoiesis stimulating protein (NESP) biosimilar from Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW). The drug (CKD-11101) is world's first NESP biosimilar to treat anemia.

PERTH, Australia – Australia is at risk of falling behind the U.S. and Europe in preventing recurrence of melanoma, the Melanoma Institute Australia warns. It is urging the Australian government to undertake a timely review of immunotherapy treatments effective in preventing the spread of melanoma and to fast track listings on the government-subsidized Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

SUZHOU, China – Under the "Healthy China" campaign, China has introduced a three-year action plan for preventing and treating cancer. The plan vows to speed up the marketing of cancer drugs in the country, even aiming for simultaneous marketing with other countries.

HONG KONG – South Korean biopharmaceutical giant Celltrion Group, of Incheon, and Korea Development Bank (KDB), a wholly state-owned policy development bank, have agreed to run a fund worth KRW220 billion (US$184 million) to grow venture companies in Korea's bio-health care sector.

SUZHOU, China, and HONG KONG – Despite investor worries over the long-term political and economic stability of Hong Kong after almost four months of social unrest and frequent violent protests, Chinese biotech executives remain optimistic about the outlook for the prospects for the market.