HONG KONG – Following a wave of concern about the efficacy of two COVID-19 vaccine candidates developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), interim analysis of an ongoing phase III trial, published May 26 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, has shown that adults receiving at least one dose of either of the company’s two inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines had significantly reduced the risk of symptomatic COVID-19.
In their latest submission to Science, Weifeng Shi, director and professor at the Institute of Pathogen Biology at Shandong First Medical University in China, and George Gao, head of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, have warned that “the global spread of H5N8 avian influenza viruses is a public health concern.”
BEIJING, China and SANTANDER, Spain – Antengene Corp. and Calithera Biosciences Inc. entered a worldwide exclusive license agreement to develop and market the CD73 inhibitor CB-708 (ATG-037), as part of a push to use the small-molecule inhibitor to grab significant market share in Asia Pacific and global markets.
Shanghai and New Jersey-based Lianbio Co. Ltd. has made its second in-licensing deal in a week. This time, it obtained rights for omilancor and NX-13, both under development by Landos Biopharma Inc. for the potential treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) – plus eosinophilic esophagitis, for omilancor – in greater China, South Korea and seven ASEAN countries as part of a $218 million deal.
Shanghai-based Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. raised $105 million in a series C financing round to move candidates, starting with an anti-CD39 antibody, into clinical studies in the U.S. The funds will also support the company’s efforts in finding new mechanisms for cancer immunotherapy and potential partners, it said.
While partnering activities reached new highs in 2020, Chinese biopharma players found it more difficult to snatch good deals in a more competitive landscape. They now need to act faster and do more preparation work to seize partnering opportunities, panelists said at the Chinabio Partnering Forum.
Amid the trend of investors partnering with Western biotech companies to set up China-focused joint ventures, San Diego-based Kinnate Biopharma Inc. has joined Orbimed Asia Partners, Orbimed Private Investments and Foresite Capital to establish a JV in Shanghai to move its preclinical kinase inhibitor candidates forward in greater China.
Venture capitalists in China are adopting different models to quickly create value from biopharma companies and are able to exit much faster than their U.S counterparts, new data suggest.
Multinational players are changing the way they look at China as a source for innovation as it accelerates efforts in areas such as digital health in pursuit of desire to make a global impact.
Song Guo Zheng, a rheumatology professor and researcher at Ohio State University (OSU), was sentenced May 14 to 37 months in prison for lying on U.S. NIH grant applications about his ties to at least five Chinese research institutes.
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