Bio-Thera Solutions Inc. announced Aug. 26 that the European Commission cleared Usymro (BAT-2206) as a biosimilar to Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Stelara (ustekinumab). The EMA issued marketing authorization for Usymro on Aug. 14, following the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use adopting a positive opinion on June 19.
Financings are on the rise in Hong Kong as a number of Chinese pharmaceutical companies announced capital raisings, including Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Ltd., Qyuns Therapeutics Co., Ltd., Harbour Biomed Ltd. and Cutia Therapeutics.
The Korea Pharmaceutical Traders Association said Aug. 26 that it signed a strategic agreement with Korea Trade Insurance Corp. to support South Korean companies exporting biopharmaceutical materials overseas.
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co. Ltd.’s subsidiary, Shanghai Fosun Pharma Industrial, signed off ex-China rights to a phase II small-molecule inhibitor, FXS-6837, to Sitala Bio Ltd. in a potential $675 million deal.
Bio-Thera Solutions Inc. announced Aug. 26 that the European Commission cleared Usymro (BAT-2206) as a biosimilar to Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Stelara (ustekinumab). The EMA issued marketing authorization for Usymro on Aug. 14, following the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use adopting a positive opinion on June 19.
The recombinant fusion protein drug telitacicept from Remegen Co. Ltd. and Vor Bio Inc. has notched a phase III win in treating adults with IgA nephropathy. The clinical trial of the fusion protein hit the primary endpoint, reducing proteinuria, too much protein in patients’ urine, in stage A of the study in China.
The Medical Device Authority of Malaysia reported on Aug. 22 the piloting of a bilateral medical device approval program with Singapore to streamline the review and launch of medical devices in both countries.
Akeso Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s gumokimab (AK-111) and manfidokimab met all primary efficacy endpoints in its phase III trials in active ankylosing spondylitis and in moderate to severe atopic dermatitis, respectively.
French vaccines specialist Osivax SAS has been awarded $19.5 million by the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to fund work on its universal influenza A vaccine.
The frontiers of xenotransplantation have been further extended with a pig-to-human lung transplant, the first time an organ that is directly exposed to the external environment – with the associated risk of respiratory pathogens – has been transplanted. The genetically modified pig lung remained viable and functional for nine days, after it was transplanted into a 39-year-old man who was declared brain dead following a hemorrhagic stroke.