Cell therapy developer Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc. (CBMG) completed a $120 million series A financing, its first since becoming a private company. The funds will benefit the U.S. and China-based firm’s CAR T pipeline, and the round was jointly led by Astrazeneca-CICC Fund, Sequoia Capital China and Yunfeng Capital. Existing investors including GIC Private Ltd. (formerly Government of Singapore Investment Corp.) and TF Capital also took part.
Denmark’s Union Therapeutics A/S has begun a strategic collaboration with Innovent Biologics Inc. over orismilast, a next-generation oral PDE4 inhibitor for inflammatory dermatology conditions that could compete directly with Amgen Inc.’s psoriasis blockbuster, Otezla (apremilast). At the same time, the company is looking for partners in the medium term to develop the drug in the rest of the world as it bids to take on Amgen and other dermatology players such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
Cstone Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. released positive data from the phase III trial, Gemstone-302, of sugemalimab plus chemotherapy for the first-line treatment of patients with stage IV squamous and non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer.
A new law in China will grant physicians the right to use off-label drugs, giving clearer definition to a gray area and lending hope that it could benefit pharma companies.
Everest Medicines Ltd. has in-licensed a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor for the treatment of renal diseases from Suzhou Sinovent Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. and Sinomab Bioscience Ltd. in a deal worth up to $561 million. Everest gained global rights to develop, produce and commercialize the candidate, XNW-1011.
A new law in China will grant physicians the right to use off-label drugs, giving clearer definition to a gray area and lending hope that it could benefit pharma companies.
The med-tech market in China has lured many device makers and investors into doing business there despite concerns about intellectual property (IP) theft. While some of those IP theft worries have eased, China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) is still implementing an order that came into force June 1, creating an environment of massive regulatory uncertainty that will force device makers to navigate carefully when attempting to access the world’s largest med-tech market.
Chinese companies are finding that their COVID-19 vaccines are effective as booster shots and against variants of the virus, as data from more studies emerge. Those who have received the third dose of Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s COVID-19 vaccine, Coronavac, showed 2.5-fold higher neutralizing potency against the Delta variant, compared to COVID-19 convalescents and two-dose vaccinees.
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