Following a day of deals that collectively bring a potential $3.75 billion into three biopharma companies – namely Ascidian Therapeutics Inc., Belharra Therapeutics Inc. and Mabcare Therapeutics – researchers will be busy discovering new therapies for neurological and immunological diseases, and advancing globally a candidate for solid tumors.
China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) approved Dizal Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s golidocitinib for treating adults with relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma whose disease has progressed or was refractory to at least one prior systemic therapy.
Innovent Biologics Inc.’s glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor and glucagon receptor dual agonist, mazdutide, saw 80% reduction in liver fat content in patients with more than 10% liver fat content in the phase III Glory-1 obesity trial.
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd announced it will buy out partner Shanghai Henlius Biotech Inc. for up to HKD$5.4 billion (US$691.7 million), according to a joint announcement on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Suzhou, China-headquartered Ascentage Pharma Group Corp. Ltd. has filed plans for a confidential IPO to the U.S. SEC for a potential dual listing on both the U.S. and Hong Kong stock exchanges. News of the U.S. IPO came just a few days after Ascentage drew a $75 million equity investment from Osaka, Japan-headquartered Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. with the issuance of about 24.3 million shares at a purchase price of HK$24.09 (US$3.08) per share.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has signed an option agreement to in-license Ascentage Pharma Group Inc.’s olverembatinib, an oral third-generation BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). If exercised, the option would allow Takeda to license exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize olverembatinib in all territories outside of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and Russia.
Chinese artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery firm Quantumpharm Inc., also known as Xtalpi, began trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange June 13, listing under a new special technology listing track that lured it away from an IPO in the U.S.
The Biosecure Act missed its first chance at a congressional ride June 11 when the U.S. House Rules Committee didn’t include it, as many had expected, on the list of potential riders the House will consider for its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, a must-pass defense spending bill for fiscal 2025. But that doesn’t mean the bill will be stranded by the wayside.
China’s Medilink Therapeutics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. and Germany’s Biontech SE signed another potential $1 billion-plus deal for novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targets, building off the first ADC-based licensing deal from last year.
Miami-headquartered Summit Therapeutics Inc. expanded rights to Akeso Inc.’s non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) drug, ivonescimab (SMT-112; AK-112), June 3 while raising $200 million to advance the therapy.