Adalta Ltd. is outlicensing all of its internal products and focusing instead on inlicensing early stage T-cell assets from Asia, mostly from China, Adalta CEO Tim Oldham told BioWorld. Dubbed its “East to West” strategy, Adalta is integrating Asia's prowess in T-cell therapy development with the efficiency and quality of Australia's clinical and manufacturing ecosystem to create a pathway connecting Eastern innovation in cellular immunotherapies with Western regulated markets and patients.

Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. announced a global offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to raise up to $1.27 billion to advance its growing pipeline focused on oncology, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, immunological and respiratory diseases, and neuroscience.

China’s Pegbio Co. Ltd. launched its IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange May 19, to raise up to HK$300.82 million (US$38.4 million) to advance visepegenatide (PB-119), its glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist.

Pfizer Inc. is paying $1.25 billion up front and up to $4.8 billion in milestone payments to gain global, ex-China rights to SSGJ-707, a PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody from 3Sbio Inc. that recently won China clearance for a phase III study in lung cancer as a potential first-line monotherapy. Announced after U.S. market hours May 19, the exclusive agreement for SSGJ-707 spells up to $6.15 billion combined for Shenyang, China-based 3Sbio, along with separate tiered double-digit royalty payments on sales of SSGJ-707, if approved.

Suzhou Sanegene Bio Inc. has gained clinical trial approval in China for SGB-3383 for the treatment of complement-mediated kidney diseases, including IgA nephropathy, C3 glomerulopathy, immune complex-mediated membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome.

China’s Pegbio Co. Ltd. launched its IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange May 19, to raise up to HK$300.82 million (US$38.4 million) to advance visepegenatide (PB-119), its glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist.

Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. announced a global offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to raise up to $1.27 billion to advance its growing pipeline focused on oncology, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, immunological and respiratory diseases, and neuroscience.

Sirius Therapeutics Inc. raised nearly $50 million in a series B2 financing round May 9 to support its pipeline of small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules for cardiovascular disease indications. SRSD-107, a long-acting Factor XI anticoagulant for thromboembolic disorders, is its lead candidate waiting on EMA clearance to begin a phase II study in Europe. 

Korean pharmaceutical stocks rose across the board May 13, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump signed off on the most favored nation executive order, a drug pricing policy expected to benefit biosimilar makers in the U.S., according to Celltrion Inc.