A year after its $175 million IPO in 2024, Arrivent Biopharma Inc. picked up rights to develop and commercialize Lepu Biopharma Co. Ltd.’s antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidate, MRG-007, worldwide excluding the greater China region.
Ascentage Pharma Group Corp. Ltd. has priced the first IPO of the year in the U.S. The offering of 7.32 million shares has the Suzhou, China, and Rockville, Md.-based company looking for gross proceeds of about $126.4 million, assuming a price of $17.25 per share.
The Chinese government blacklisted several American companies, including gene sequencing-focused biotechnology firm Illumina Inc. and fashion brand PVH Corp., citing threats to China’s “national sovereignty, security and development interests.”
In another Chinese newco out-licensing deal, Innocare Pharma Ltd. and Keymed Biosciences Co. Ltd. out-licensed their co-developed CD20×CD3 bispecific antibody (ICP-B02/CM355) to startup Prolium Bioscience Inc. in a deal worth up to $520 million.
China is deepening its regulatory reforms of drugs and devices to foster a globally competitive innovation ecosystem to transform China from a major pharmaceutical manufacturer into a global pharmaceutical powerhouse.
Mountainfield Venture Partners and Chengdu, China-based Keymed Biosciences Co. Ltd have partnered to form San Diego-based Timberlyne Therapeutics, which will progress Keymed’s CD-38 monoclonal antibody globally excluding China.
Abbvie Inc. and Simcere Zaiming Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. are part of the volley of large deals accompanying the opening of the 43rd annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. The two have agreed to develop SIM-0500, a humanized GPRC5D-BCMA-CD3 trispecific antibody, which is in phase I studies in the U.S. and China to treat refractory multiple myeloma.
Wuxi Biologics Co. Ltd. is licensing a preclinical trispecific T-cell engager to Candid Therapeutics Inc. in a deal worth up to $925 million plus royalties.
CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. on Jan. 13 gained the National Medical Products Administration’s approval of Shanzeping (prusogliptin tablets; DBPR-108) as a novel oral dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-4) inhibitor to treat adult patients with type 2 diabetes.
The antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) arena continues to ring up deals, as Avenzo Therapeutics Inc. signed an exclusive license agreement with Duality Biotherapeutics Inc., whereby Avenzo will develop, manufacture and commercialize AVZO-1418/DB-1418, described as a potential best-in-class EGFR/HER3 bispecific ADC, globally (excluding greater China).