Serial biotech-founding venture fund Flagship Pioneering Inc., most noted for launching Moderna Inc. in 2012, is crossing into the Asia Pacific (APAC) region and setting up a regional office in Singapore, a move that comes on the heels of its entry into the U.K. earlier this year.

Orsobio Inc., already in the clinic with three candidates, has completed its $60 million series A financing. The company, CEO Mani Subramanian told BioWorld, has taken its time to find the right programs, put them together and only raised capital when it saw the programs had legs. Even the series A is a measured step, as Subramanian called the financing “modest.”

What’s it going to take for Australia’s biotech industry to be more self-sufficient? Although Australia is far away from the rest of the world, no one is an island when it comes to biotechnology, Ausbiotech CEO Lorraine Chiroiu said during the Ausbiotech 2023 conference held in Brisbane Nov. 1-3. Investors gathered to riff about what they were looking for in Australian biotech investments and what needs to change for the sector to be sustainable. All agreed that the science in Australia is top-notch but that the ecosystem needs more investment to be competitive.