The wheels of the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) juggernaut keep on turning, with Araris Biotech AG announcing a deal with a headline value of $780 million to apply its multi-payload linker technology to generate novel ADCs for Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

Kaken Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s license agreement with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)6 inhibitor KP-723 could presage further deals in STAT6, where a number of developers are active. Kaken’s arrangement with J&J involves the global development, manufacturing and sale of KP-723, which has reached the preclinical stage. Tokyo-based Kaken will take the drug through phase I trials, after which J&J takes over.

Kaken Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s license agreement with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)6 inhibitor KP-723 could presage further deals in STAT6, where a number of developers are active. Kaken’s arrangement with J&J involves the global development, manufacturing and sale of KP-723, which has reached the preclinical stage. Tokyo-based Kaken will take the drug through phase I trials, after which J&J takes over.

At Bio Japan 2024, policymakers and industry leaders pledged to make Japan a land of drug discovery to attract native and foreign drug developers. Like many Asian countries, Japan is harnessing and prioritizing the bio sector to drive economic growth, throwing its weight behind its 10-year Bioeconomy initiative to create bioclusters and increase investment.

Kaken Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s license agreement with Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)6 inhibitor KP-723 could presage further deals in STAT6, where a number of developers are active. Kaken’s arrangement with J&J involves the global development, manufacturing and sale of KP-723, which has reached the preclinical stage. Tokyo-based Kaken will take the drug through phase I trials, after which J&J takes over.

AI pulled in major financings and approvals for Asia med-techs in 2024 as Asia Pacific countries played to individual strengths to maximize AI’s applications in the health care sector. While breakaway AI technologies like OpenAI’s ChatGPT reshaped and boosted many industries, AI also drove major financings for APAC med-techs weathering a wider macroeconomic downturn, with AI-based companies accounting for five out of 11 IPOs tracked on BioWorld’s med-tech IPOs list.

Kura Oncology, Inc. and Kyowa Kirin Co. Ltd.’s selective oral menin inhibitor ziftomenib showed encouraging data across multiple studies, the most encouraging of which were in combination with other standard of care therapies in patients with NPM1-mutant and KMT2A-rearranged  acute myeloid leukemia.

Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA scored €44 million (US$46.26 million) up front in a potential €117 million licensing deal with EA Pharma Co. Ltd. to pad the clinical runway of its late-stage oral schizophrenia asset, evenamide (NW-3509), sending company stock prices up near 20%.