BEIJING – Three-year-old startup Everest Medicines Ltd. (1952.HK) sold 63 million shares at HK$55 apiece to raise HK$3.49 billion (US$451 million) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Oct 9. Shares were oversubscribed by 654 times in Hong Kong.
HONG KONG – Shanghai-based Bioshin Ltd., the Asia-Pacific arm of New Haven, Conn.-based Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd., has added $60 million to its war chest via a series A investment.
HONG KONG – Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. has won regulatory approval for Enhertu (trastuzumab deruxtecan) in Japan based on a pivotal phase II trial alone. The HER2-directed antibody-drug conjugate has been approved for the treatment of patients with HER2-positive unresectable advanced or recurrent gastric cancer that has progressed after chemotherapy.
HONG KONG – Tokyo-based Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Roche Holding AG, has received approval from Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) to add new indication to the list of those treatable with its combination of Tecentriq (atezolizumab) and Avastin (bevacizumab): unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Both medicines originated at Genentech Inc.
A new randomized controlled trial (RCT) of COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) treatment for moderately ill COVID-19 patients run at 39 Indian hospitals found no association between CCP therapy and reduced mortality or progression to severe disease.
PERTH, Australia – Australian public health laboratories are collaborating to sequence the virus genomes of all positive COVID-19 tests in Australia to track the virus using genomics across the country. The Communicable Disease Genomics Network (CDGN) and Illumina Inc. will track COVID-19 by using next-generation genomic sequencing technology.
HONG KONG – Interim results of a phase I study CT-P59, an anti-COVID-19 monoclonal antibody being developed by Incheon, South Korea-based Celltrion Inc., have confirmed the candidate’s safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics in healthy subjects, giving the company confidence to ramp up production of the experimental antiviral.
HONG KONG – The Korean 2020 KoNECT-MOHW-MFDS International Conference, which is taking place online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, faced a challenging start. Technical difficulties hampered some of the early proceeding. However, technology took focus again later in the day in a more positive, with an exploration of artificial intelligence (AI).