Hasten Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has licensed greater China rights to Lib Therapeutics Inc.’s next-generation PCSK9 inhibitor lerodalcibep in a deal worth up to $325 million.
After raising HKD$320 million (US$40.8 million) in its IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last week, Immuneonco Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.’s stock has continued to rise, and analysts are expecting the Hong Kong market to pick up after a slack start to the year.
Brii Biosciences Ltd.’s therapeutic vaccine for hepatitis B (HBV), BRII-179 (VBI-2601), induced functional immune responses – inducing broad antibody and T-cell responses – in patients with chronic HBV in a phase II trial that evaluated the vaccine in combination with pegylated interferon-alfa, according to interim results.
China’s recovery from its zero-COVID policy has failed to gain the momentum expected, with many experts predicting a slow or even negative growth rate. A slower economy, combined with a push toward self-reliance, bodes poorly for diagnostics manufacturers in the U.S. who may find themselves not just shut out of the huge market but facing stiffer competition around the globe. Further, policies designed to build a domestic next-generation sequencing industry have created headwinds for San Diego-based Illumina Inc. and others, noted Kyle Mikson and Alex Vukasin of Canaccord Genuity in an in-depth report.
China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has given the green light to Gloria Biosciences Co. Ltd.’s anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, zimberelimab (Yutuo, GLS-010), for treating second-line cervical cancer, making it the first immune checkpoint inhibitor approved in China for treating the disease.
Magassist Co. Ltd. has been granted a breakthrough device designation by the U.S. FDA for its interventional ventricular assist device (VAD), which is expected to accelerate the development and approval of the product.
Verastem Oncology Inc. and Genfleet Therapeutics Ltd. have inked a discovery and development deal to advance three oncology discovery programs targeting RAS pathway-driven cancers.
Two new sets of draft guidelines in China aim to strengthen and streamline registration systems while clearly spelling out additional rules for device makers to ensure quality management and controls, including strengthening controls over any outsourced manufacturing and calling of makers of implantable devices to manufacture in house.
Hutchmed (China) Ltd.’s sovleplenib (HMPL-523) met the primary endpoint of durable response rate and all secondary endpoints in the pivotal phase III trial in adults with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in China.
China’s National Medical Products Administration has approved Innovent Biologics Inc.’s proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin-type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitor, Sintbilo (tafolecimab), making it the first first locally developed PCSK9 monoclonal antibody to be approved in China.