Aussie radiopharma company Advancell Co. Ltd. closed an oversubscribed $112 million series C round that will accelerate clinical development of its pipeline of radionuclide therapies and allow it to expand its manufacturing capacity.
Vaxxas Pty. Ltd. and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations are progressing heat-stable, dried-formulation mRNA vaccines using Vaxxas’ needle-free high-density microarray patch.
South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said it released the world’s first guideline on reviewing and approving generative artificial intelligence-based medical devices Jan. 24, to help establish standards on the technology’s applications in the medical field.
The Chinese government blacklisted several American companies, including gene sequencing-focused biotechnology firm Illumina Inc. and fashion brand PVH Corp., citing threats to China’s “national sovereignty, security and development interests.”
To realize the promise of cell therapy for neurodegenerative disorders, S.Biomedics Co. Ltd. is looking to expand clinical trials of TED-A9, its stem cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease (PD), to the U.S., having reaped positive results from a domestic phase I/IIa trial in November 2024.
Shionogi & Co. Ltd. won a $375 million project agreement from the Rapid Response Partnership Vehicle to develop its 3CL protease inhibitor, S-892216, as a long-acting injectable for COVID-19 pre-exposure prophylaxis. The project was awarded to New Jersey-based Shionogi Inc., a subsidiary of the Osaka, Japan-based pharmaceutical company. S-892216 is an investigational second-generation 3CL protease inhibitor in development as a long-acting injectable for prophylaxis treatment of SARS-CoV-2.
As more Asia biotechs turn to regenerative medicine to address disorders without a cure, Medipost Inc. is continuing global expansion with Cartistem, its allogeneic human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cell product that gained clearance in South Korea in 2012 to treat knee osteoarthritis.
China’s National Medical Products Administration has given the green light to Innovent Biologics, Inc.’s and Jiangsu Aosaikang Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s NDA for third-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor limertinib, for treating adults with locally advanced or metastatic EGFR T790M-mutated non-small cell lung cancer.
Marking the second global approval after Japan, the U.S. FDA has approved Datroway (datopotamab deruxtecan), a trophoblast cell surface antigen 2-directed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) from Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. and Astrazeneca plc, for treating adults with hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative unresectable or recurrent breast cancer after prior chemotherapy.
In another Chinese newco out-licensing deal, Innocare Pharma Ltd. and Keymed Biosciences Co. Ltd. out-licensed their co-developed CD20×CD3 bispecific antibody (ICP-B02/CM355) to startup Prolium Bioscience Inc. in a deal worth up to $520 million.