Aptose Biosciences Inc. has bought over the worldwide rights to Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s myeloid kinome inhibitor in a deal worth up to $420 million. Seoul, South Korea-based Hanmi has granted Aptose exclusive worldwide rights to HM-43239 for all indications. The candidate was developed for relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia.
Beijing Airdoc Technology Co. Ltd. raised HK$1.67 billion (US$214.8 million) with its IPO on the Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX) on Nov. 5, falling below its expectations of a $500 million raise. Share prices for the artificial intelligence-based (AI) medical imaging firm were priced at HK$75.10 apiece and dropped 3.5% to HK$72.50.
Sichuan Clover Biopharmaceuticals Inc. raised HK$2.03 billion (US$260.17 million) in its Hong Kong Stock Exchange debut. Shares closed at HK$12.98 (US$1.67) on Nov. 5 after trading as high as HK$13.56 earlier.
Fapon Biotech Inc. expanded its presence in the global next-generation sequencing (NGS) market by acquiring all of the shares in U.S. firm Sequlite Genomics US Inc. With the acquisition, the Dongguan, China-based Fapon Biotech will manage Sequlite’s product development and business operation.
Jubliee Biotech Co. Ltd. is hoping to get FDA clearance with Jubiwatch, its smartwatch and medication management platform. “We aim to obtain FDA pre-submission between April and June 2022, and hopefully hit the U.S. market at the end of 2023,” Sung Kyoung Lee, CEO at Jubliee Biotech, told BioWorld.
Plants could be an alternative vaccine platform for both COVID-19 and future pandemics, shaking up a biologics sector that is currently mostly protein-based. South Korean company Bioapplications Inc., for example, is aiming to have a plant-derived booster shot for COVID-19 in the clinic in 2022.
Antengene Corp. Ltd. has formed a partnership with Legochem Biosciences Inc. to jointly develop new antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) primarily for cancer. The partners will integrate antibodies from Antengene with Legochem’s ADC technology.
Shanghai Microport Medbot (Group) Co. Ltd. started trading its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Nov. 2, with shares increasing over 6% in the middle of the day. It raised HK$1.56 billion ($201 million) with shares going at HK$43.2 apiece in an initial public offering. The firm plans to use 35% of the proceeds for the development and commercialization of its core product, the laparoscopic surgical robot Toumai.
Asahi Intecc Co. Ltd. is tapping Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence Inc.’s non-linear structural analysis software, Marc, to develop delivery devices that carry markers to the vicinity of cancers in preparation for endoscopic surgery.
PERTH, Australia – Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is seeking comments from industry on mandatory reporting of medical device averse events by health care facilities, and the agency also published comments on a consultation on patient information to be provided with devices. As part of the recent overhaul of Australia’s medical device regulations, the TGA released an action plan for medical devices in 2019 that explored whether it should be mandatory for health care facilities to report adverse events and safety problems with devices to the TGA.