India’s health care industry stakeholders have been left scratching their head as authorities, who have championed self-reliance and increased supplies, provided mixed signals in recent notices.
PERTH, Australia – New Zealand’s single payer, Pharmac, funded 13 new medicines and widened access to 19 medicines in 2021 that are expected to benefit about 45,426 New Zealanders, according to the agency’s year in review report.
TOKYO – Japan’s Pharmaceuticals and Medical Device Agency (PMDA) is refocusing its efforts to strengthen ties with Asian counterparts as COVID-19 and market trends show a clear need for faster drug development, approval and accommodation for ailments more common in the region.
Samsung Biologics Co. Ltd. has agreed to buy out Biogen Inc.’s stake in the joint venture Samsung Bioepis Co. Ltd. for $2.3 billion. Biogen will receive $1 billion in cash at closing and $1.25 billion in deferred payments of $812.5 million due at the first anniversary and $437.5 million due at the second anniversary of the closing of the transaction. Biogen is also expected to receive up to $50 million upon achievement of certain commercial milestones.
South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has greenlighted Novavax Inc.’s Nuvaxovid, making it the first protein-based COVID-19 vaccine to be approved for commercial use in the country. The regulatory win for Novavax adds to emergency use authorizations (EUA) for the product, also known as NVX-CoV2373, in India, Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as an emergency use listing from the World Health Organization. On Jan. 12, the company said it expects to submit an EUA request to the FDA after one month.
SCG Cell Therapy Pte. Ltd. has acquired rights to human induced pluripotent stem cell technology from Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)’s Accelerate Technologies Pte. Ltd. to support the development of natural killer (NK) cell therapies for leukemia, liver cancer, gastric cancer and other solid tumors.
Prism Biolab Co. Ltd. has added Genentech Inc., a unit of Roche Holding AG, to the list of users for its peptide mimetic small-molecules library after signing a multitarget research collaboration and licensing agreement.
Inveniai LLC and Kyowa Kirin Co. Ltd. have expanded their partnership a second time, inking their most recent multiple drug discovery agreement. The multiyear deal will see the duo discover novel targets and treatments for therapeutic areas across Kyowa Kirin’s portfolio and areas of interest using Inveniai’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform.
Computational technology and high-quality data will help scientists to improve R&D and find better treatments for human diseases, according to experts at the Wuxi Global Forum 2022.
Sirnaomics Ltd. became the first RNA therapeutics company to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) with a $64 million initial public offering. Its shares (HKEX:2277) have since surged, rising to HK$93.90 ($12.04) on Jan. 4 following their debut at HK$65.90 per share.