SHENZHEN, China – Ever since Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Shenzhen in October, the southern city has been tasked with developing itself into an innovation powerhouse. Biotech veterans now see Shenzhen, designated China’s first special economic zone in 1980 and a symbol of its opening up, as a biotech innovation hub that will take Chinese innovation overseas.
HONG KONG – Shanghai and New Jersey-based Lianbio has landed a commitment of up to $70 million in non-dilutive capital from a new collaboration with Pfizer Inc., just weeks raising $310 million in an oversubscribed crossover financing round.
HONG KONG – D3 Bio Inc. is the new kid on the biopharma block in Shanghai, kicking off with a $200 million series A financing backed by some of Asia’s most prominent venture capital firms.
HONG KONG – Hutchison China Meditech Ltd. (also known as Chi-Med) has received a $100 million equity investment from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which will fund ongoing research, clinical development and commercialization capabilities.
SHENZHEN – While China is rather new in biotech innovation and still has potential for growth, industry insiders worry about the long-term sustainability of innovation. Speaking at a recent conference in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, various experts said sustaining innovation may depend on differentiation, globalization and reimbursement policies.
SHENZHEN – To accelerate the development of cell therapies, China’s NMPA has introduced a dual-track regulatory pathway that allows companies to seek an IND with data from investigator-initiated trials.
BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Reversal of pumping direction is reversal of fortune for tumor cells; Cholesterol drug affects checkpoint blockade via MHC1; Heart development protein has role in adult immunity.
BOGOTA, Colombia and VANCOUVER, Canada – Anvisa, Brazil’s health care surveillance agency, re-started phase III trials for Coronavac, the COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by China-based Sinovac Biotech Ltd., after a suspension of just two days. “Anvisa understands that it has sufficient subsidies to allow the resumption of vaccination,” the regulator said on Nov. 11. Anvisa said it plans to continue monitoring “the possible relationship of causality” between an unexpected serious adverse event and the vaccine.
HONG KONG – Kira Pharmaceuticals is riding high after completing a $46 million fundraiser and appointing Frederick Beddingfield as CEO. “The $46 million comprises a series A of $18 million and a series B of $26 million, with investors Quan Capital, 6 Dimensions Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, and Sinopharm Capital participating in both rounds,” Beddingfield told BioWorld.
3D Medicines Inc. has licensed in from Aravive Inc. a phase Ib-completed GAS6/AXL inhibitor known as AVB-500 in a deal worth up to $219 million. The Chinese firm will have the rights to develop and commercialize the drug candidate across all oncology indications in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
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