Bright days are ahead for China’s biopharmaceutical sector, which is getting a reset from the efforts to tackle COVID-19 through innovation and advancements. “I'm consciously optimistic about the fact that cross-border deals will continue,” Stella Xu, managing director, Quan Capital, from Shanghai, China said during a panel discussion at the Chinabio Partnering Forum.
HONG KONG – Tokyo-based Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has launched a subcutaneous injection of Enspryng (satralizumab) in Japan to prevent relapses of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), including neuromyelitis optica (NMO).
LONDON – Ion Beam Applications SA (IBA) has taken a giant step into China, sealing a €100 million-plus (US$118.2 million) licensing deal with a local company to manufacture, install and maintain its proton beam cancer therapy systems.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has brought disruptions to R&D, market activities in the biopharmaceutical sector have remained active during the first half of this year in China. Venture capital investments, IPOs and partnering activity showed upward trends, except for M&A activity, which has declined for two years.
Ever since the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) overhauled its listing rules to welcome pre-revenue biotech companies in April 2018, Hong Kong has become the largest biotech fundraising hub in Asia, and the second largest in the world after Nasdaq, HKEX executives said Tuesday at the bourse’s biotech summit. The biotech IPO pipeline continues to grow and pre-revenue companies are more accepted into the city’s financial system.
Shanghai-based nanobody specialist Novamab Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. is developing a new neutralizing nanobody, Nb11-59, as a potential inhaled therapy for COVID-19 – a convenient treatment if developed successfully. Similar research is being conducted worldwide.
HONG KONG – Hua Medicine Ltd. has signed a commercialization and partnership deal with Bayer AG for a new diabetes treatment in China. Hua’s dorzagliatin, a first-in-class dual-acting glucokinase activator, is designed to control the progressive degenerative nature of diabetes by restoring glucose homeostasis in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D).
Innovent Biologics Inc., of Suzhou, has out-licensed ex-China rights for its PD-1 drug Tyvyt (sintilimab) to Eli Lilly and Co. in an expanded license deal. The Chinese firm will receive $200 million upfront in the deal, the value of which could approach up to $1.03 billion. Innovent’s CEO Michael Yu called this “the first solid step in getting Innovent's innovative portfolio into the global market.” With the ex-China rights of Tyvyt, Lilly plans to seek approval for the PD-1 drug in the U.S. and other markets.
A bid by top shareholders and managers of the U.S.-China cell therapy developer Cellular Biomedicine Group Inc. to take the company private pushed shares (NASDAQ:CBMG) 35% higher Wednesday to $19.27, just shy of the offering price.
HONG KONG – China’s Arctic Vision Biotechnology Co. Ltd. has entered into an exclusive deal with New York-based Eyenovia Inc. to develop and commercialize ophthalmic formulations that are delivered using the latter’s first-in-class microdosing spray technology.
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