LONDON – Results from the phase I/II trial of Coronavac, a COVID-19 vaccine based on a traditional inactivated whole SARS-CoV-2 virus that circulated in China in the early days of the pandemic, show it is safe and induces an antibody response in healthy volunteers ages 18 to 59.

Fochon Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., out-licensed FCN-338, a BCL-2 inhibitor, to Eli Lilly and Co. for an up-front payment of $40 million along with milestones and royalties. The deal marks another example of Chinese biotech companies reversing the licensing flow.

HONG KONG, BEIJING and CAJICA, Colombia – Anvisa, Brazil’s health care surveillance agency, has halted the final-stage trials for Beijing, China-based Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate Coronavac after a serious adverse event occurred on Oct. 29 and was communicated to the regulator. Anvisa then evaluated the data and suspended the trials after weighing the risk-benefit of continuing them in the country, it said.

Gracell Biotechnologies Inc. has closed a $100 million series C financing round to advance its CAR T-cell therapy candidates, including autologous product candidate, GC-012F, and allogeneic product candidate, GC-027. Both candidates are in investigator-initiated phase I trials in China.

HONG KONG – Aprinoia Therapeutics Inc. is poised to start phase III clinical trials for its positron emission tomography (PET) imaging tracer 18F-APN-1607 in China, after receiving the green light from the National Medical Products Administration.

Chinese pharma giant Huadong Medicine Co. Ltd. has licensed rights to mirvetuximab soravtansine, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) for ovarian cancer, from Immunogen Inc., marking its first step into a realm embraced by a growing number of Chinese biopharma player: innovative medicines.