Intriguing scientific data continue to roll out in the head and neck cancer space, where the need for therapies has spurred a number of drug firms to try new approaches, which BioWorld examines in part two of a series that began in the Dec. 30 issue.

In a deal worth up to $1 billion, Ideaya Biosciences Inc. is in-licensing Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.’s SHR-4849, a phase I DLL3-targeting opo-I-payload antibody-drug conjugate (ADC). Under terms of the deal, San Francisco-based Ideaya will develop and commercialize SHR-4849 worldwide outside of greater China, and Shanghai-based Hengrui is eligible to receive up to $1.04 billion that includes a $75 million up-front fee, $200 million in development and regulatory milestone payments, and commercial success-based milestone payments. Hengrui is also eligible to receive royalties on net sales outside of greater China.

Zhongzhi Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd. made a $3 million investment in a series A financing round of stem cell therapy developer Gabaeron Inc. Dec. 21, expected to help propel Gabaeron’s preclinical Alzheimer’s disease (AD) candidate into phase I testing.

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.

Driven by declining competitiveness, the new European Commission will start 2025 by getting to work on an EU-wide industrial strategy, proposing a number of policies with direct and indirect implications for the biopharmaceutical sector.

Sangamo Therapeutics Inc.’s stock sank sharply on the last day of 2025 as Pfizer Inc. handed back the rights to their collaborative gene therapy hemophilia A program. While it was another big loss to Sangamo, which had seen two other major deals fall through in the past two years, the company still has two large collaborations in development.

Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd.’s trophoblast cell surface antigen 2 (Trop2)-directed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), datopotamab deruxtecan (dato-dxd), has been approved in Japan for treating adults with hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative unresectable or recurrent breast cancer after prior chemotherapy.