Everest Medicines Ltd. has inked an agreement with Gilead Sciences Inc. to pass the latter’s subsidiary, Immunomedics Inc., exclusive rights to develop and commercialize Trodelvy (sacituzumab govitecan) in greater China, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Mongolia. Everest stands to receive up to $455 million in total consideration, including $280 million up front and up to $175 million in potential milestone payments.
Epigenic Therapeutics Co. Ltd., a company developing epigenomic-focused gene therapies in multiple indications, has raised $20 million across angel and pre-series A rounds to support preclinical studies, early stage research, and growth for its team.
Growing the international competitiveness of Taiwan’s biotech sector is one of six key strategies Taiwan’s government is heavily invested in, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen told attendees via video during the recent BIO Asia-Taiwan conference in Taipei.
Following the readout of a phase II trial evaluating its COVID-19 oral antiviral Pentarlandir (SNB-01), Taiwan’s Syneurx International Corp. said it expects to launch a phase III test of the candidate in the next few months.
Big pharma is increasingly turning to Taiwan to leverage the power of the country’s data and computing power as precision medicine takes center stage in drug development, speakers said during the recent BIO Asia-Taiwan conference in Taipei.
Keeping innovation growing at a fast clip while retaining new global supply chain capacity built up during the pandemic were the main topics of discussion at the Bio Asia-Taiwan conference July 27 in Taipei. With the theme of the conference, “Connecting the Asia Value Chain,” Taiwan Vice President Ching-Te Lai said the pandemic has demonstrated Taiwan’s resilience as well as the strength of the global biopharma industry.
An expert panel of Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) pushed back on recommending conditional approval for a second time for Shionogi & Co. Ltd.’s orally administered COVID-19 antiviral 3CL protease inhibitor, S-217622, also known as ensitrelvir.
Neurofront Therapeutics Ltd. has picked up an option to acquire exclusive Asia rights to a phase II non-opioid drug from Novaremed AG. Under terms of the deal, Novaremed is eligible to receive more than $130 million in option and exercise fees as well as development, regulatory and sales milestone payments plus royalties on net sales.
South Korea’s Medipost Co. Ltd. is gearing up for phase III trials in the U.S. of its stem cell therapy, Cartistem, an allogeneic human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy for treatment of knee articular damage in patients with osteoarthritis.
Precision Autoimmune Therapeutics Co. Ltd. has raised ¥140 million (US$21 million) in its first financing round to speed up its pipeline development and improve its drug development platform. Emerging Technology Partners LLC, Redhill Capital and CASI Pharmaceuticals Inc. participated in the round.