Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis was renamed, for the first time in 34 years, to metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH), but a name change is far from being the biggest development in the field, according to experts at Bioplus Interphex (BIX) Korea 2024.

Silicon Valley-based Biomap is setting up a new global biocomputing innovation hub, dubbed Biomap Innohub, in Hong Kong as the local government ramps up investment to build supercomputing prowess, Vicky Qu, senior vice president of Biomap, told BioWorld. The goal is to accelerate novel drug product development and commercialization with biocomputing.

AI-driven clinical trial design company Opyl Ltd. formed a partnership with L39 Capital Pty Ltd. to establish a $100 million biotech fund that will showcase the predictive power of Opyl’s Trialkey software in selecting successful biotech and pharmaceutical stocks. Melbourne, Australia-based Opyl leverages AI to elevate clinical trial design and forecast outcomes, empowering clinical researchers, biopharma companies and investors to enhance trial design, drug development and market delivery.

Two weeks after reporting positive top-line results in first-line head and neck cancer with its lead candidate, eftilagimod alfa, in combination with Merck & Co. Inc.’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab), Immutep Ltd. presented updated data indicating the treatment could offer a non-chemotherapy option for patients with negative PD-L1 expression. Data from cohort B of the Tacti-003 (Keynote-PNC-34) phase IIb trial, which included 31 evaluable patients with PD-L1 expression of less than 1, as measured by Combined Proportion Score, showed a 35.5% objective response rate per RECIST 1.1 assessment.

Airs Medical Inc., of Seoul, South Korea, raised $20 million in a series C financing round to expand its artificial intelligence-based health care technology, including for better and faster magnetic resonance imaging scans for radiologists and patients.

AI-focused medical diagnostics company Spectral AI Inc. is collaborating with burn wound therapy company Polynovo Ltd. to test limited deployment of Spectral’s Deepview system for predicting burn healing in Australia.

The first patenting from South Korea’s Neudive Inc. sees its CEO, SungJa Cho, applying for protection of the company’s mobile digital social therapy device, NDTx-01, which helps build the social skills of neurodiverse individuals, and in particular children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder and social communication disorder.

The lively antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) space chalked another collaboration as Taipei, Taiwan-based Foreseen Biotechnology Co. Ltd. scored a global licensing agreement worth as much as $1.03 billion with Ipsen SA, of Paris, for antibody-drug conjugate FS-001, which is said to bear first-in-class potential. The drug takes aim at a novel tumor-associated antigen that is overexpressed in many solid tumors and plays a critical role in tumor proliferation and metastasis, the companies said.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis was renamed, for the first time in 34 years, to metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH), but a name change is far from being the biggest development in the field, according to experts at Bioplus Interphex (BIX) Korea 2024.

Silicon Valley-based Biomap is setting up a new global biocomputing innovation hub, dubbed Biomap Innohub, in Hong Kong as the local government ramps up investment to build supercomputing prowess, Vicky Qu, senior vice president of Biomap, told BioWorld. The goal is to accelerate novel drug product development and commercialization with biocomputing.