Elevar Therapeutics Inc. and Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.’s licensing deal for camrelizumab (SHR-1210; Airuika in China) will add the PD-1 antibody to Elevar’s liver cancer armory for pairing with rivoceranib, its tyrosine kinase inhibitor on the brink of U.S. FDA review.
Korean bioventure GI Innovation Inc. inched closer to achieving its goal of “five tech transfer deals in five years” with another licensing deal for its allergy drug, GI-301, with Japan-based Maruho Co. Ltd. for ₩298 billion (US$220.7 million), although share prices still dropped on the news.
Danish obesity and diabetes drugmaker Novo Nordisk A/S is set to acquire the Singapore-based KBP Biosciences Co. Ltd.’s hypertension drug, ocedurenone (KBP-5074), for potentially $1.3 billion, creating a platform to increase its reach in the cardiovascular (CV) landscape beyond a crowding obesity market.
Drug discovery in Japan has been steadily declining, and it has reached a crisis point where swift action is needed or pharma companies will leave Japan or stop listing products here, said speakers at the BioJapan 2023 meeting held Oct. 10 to 13 in Yokohama, Japan.
Precision cancer biotech Abion Inc. announced a positive interim phase II readout for ABN-401, its novel c-mesenchymal-epithelial transition (c-MET)-targeting tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) for advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), lighting a runway to its next trial as a combination regimen.
Five life science firms from the U.S., Asia and Germany have banded together to launch a Singapore biotech “incubator” called 65LAB in hopes of finding, funding and accelerating promising research from Singapore’s leading academic institutions to commercialization.
Cancer biotech Adlai Nortye Ltd. raised $57.5 million from its U.S. IPO on Nasdaq and $40 million from a concurrent private placement, ringing up $97.5 million in funding to develop its combo immunotherapy pipeline.
National support for the biosimilar sector and the domestic industry’s efforts to increase production and sales may not be enough for South Korean biosimilar firms to box out competition in the ever-changing regulatory court of the U.S. “Competition in U.S. negotiations and rebates are fierce,” Choi Sung-ho, chairman of the Korean Society for Bioeconomy, said. “Even if you get listed, it is crucial to be placed in an advantageous class to lower out-of-pocket costs.
As South Korea increases its stakes on the “bioeconomy” as its next growth engine and as its “second semiconductor industry,” leading domestic biologic and biosimilar drug producers such as Samsung Biologics Co. Ltd. and Celltrion Inc. are setting record production targets to become forerunners in the global playing field.
In July 2023, South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy ramped up efforts to kickstart the so-called “Bio Economy 2.0,” the newfound initiative that banks on the biopharmaceutical industry to potentially revitalize the country’s slowing economic and social growth. Highlighting four major areas – biopharmaceuticals, biomaterials, bioenergy and digital technologies – as the four “wheels” to carry the biopharma industry, the new plan underscored the government’s unwavering support for the sector while highlighting its vision to become the “number one bioeconomy” worldwide.