HONG KONG – Cstone Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. inked a licensing agreement with Legochem Biosciences Inc. for LCB-71, the latter’s antibody-drug conjugate.

HONG KONG – Kangstem Biotech Co. Ltd. has completed research on South Korea’s first artificial liver and is taking the next steps towards the device’s clinical trials.

HONG KONG – Even with vaccine administration just around the corner, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has warned his ministers to not rush the launch of COVID-19 vaccines over mounting public concerns about whether those vaccines would be certified halal, or permissible under Islamic law.

PERTH, Australia – Neuroscience technology company Cogstate Ltd. and Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai Co. Ltd. signed a deal under which Eisai will have global development rights and exclusive commercialization rights of all cognitive function tests developed by Cogstate, including the Cogstate Brief Battery (CBB) for use in health care and other markets.

The Chinatrials roundtable went virtual this year and drew clinical trial experts to discuss state-of-the-art clinical trial design strategies, which are increasingly important in a more competitive clinical landscape.

Chinese biotech startup Affamed Therapeutics Ltd., funded by CBC Group, has merged with biopharmaceutical company Everinsight Therapeutics Inc., five days after it licensed in a dopamine agonist, KDT-3594, for Parkinson's disease from Japan’s Kissei Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

HONG KONG – Yongin, South Korea-based Rznomics Inc. is on track to develop adenoviruses for gene therapies, after signing a clinical and commercial agreement with Cologne, Germany based-Cevec Pharmaceuticals GmbH. The partnership will use the German company’s Cap technology to manufacture the adenoviruses, while the therapies, targeting various cancer indications, will be developed using Rznomics’ trans-splicing ribozyme technology.

PERTH, Australia – See-Mode Technologies has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. FDA to market its Augmented Vascular Analysis (AVA) program that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze vascular ultrasound scans to better predict stroke. Caused by plaque that ruptures in blood vessels and blocks blood flow to the brain, stroke affects roughly 15 million people per year and is the second-leading cause of death globally.

NEW DELHI – Indian health care technology startups have gained ‘significant momentum’ over the last five years, fueled by a government push towards digitization, the uptake of technological advances and a spurt in health care apps. “The Indian health tech startup landscape has now come of age and includes a robust pipeline of ventures across both ends of the spectrum,” Sathguru director Pushpa Vijayaraghavan told BioWorld.