Biopharma happenings in Asia-Pacific, such as deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Astellas, Aurigene Discovery Technologies, Beigene, Brii, Codiak, Danuo Science, Editforce, Elicio, Enochian, Enosi, Eqrx, F-star, Immunome, Innorna, Insilico Medicine Hong Kong, Mitsubishi Tanabe, Mogrify, Novavax, Sino, Sinovac, Vir.
Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd. subsidiary Urovant Sciences GmbH is out-licensing overactive bladder (OAB) treatment vibegron to Pierre Fabre Médicament to register and commercialize the drug in the EU, U,K, and Switzerland. Under the terms of the deal, Basel, Switzerland-based Urovant will receive up to $75 million in up-front payments, regulatory and sales milestones and royalties, while Urovant will retain full commercialization rights to vibegron in the U.S. and certain other markets.
Biopharma deals during the second quarter of 2022 fell short of each of the last two years with 379 completed deals valued at $36.9 billion, but the year is still the strongest to date. Thanks to the record-breaking first quarter, deals in the first half of this year are ahead of all other years, reaching a total value of $93.8 billion, 6.5% more than 2020, the next highest first half.
Helixon Ltd. raised ¥500 million (US$75 million) in a series A round for its artificial intelligence (AI) drug development platform. The Beijing-based company is building a next-generation AI computing platform by combining it with self-developed high-throughput experimental technologies, aiming to provide drug developers with an intelligent system for molecular computation, simulation and design.
Beigene Ltd. has formed a partnership with Innorna Co. Ltd. to jointly develop messenger RNA (mRNA)-based therapeutics. Shenzhen, China-based Innorna will get an undisclosed up-front payment and is also eligible to receive additional payments based on development, regulatory and commercial milestones, as well as tiered royalties. Beigene will maintain exclusive global rights to the mRNA candidates co-developed in the deal.
Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. plans to expand its androgen receptor inhibitor, rezvilutamide, to markets abroad after getting a thumbs up from China’s NMPA for treating metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer patients with high-volume disease burden.
Clarity Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is progressing three of its targeted copper theranostics through the clinic that are based on its sarcophagine technology that securely holds copper isotopes inside a cage-like structure, called a chelator. The SAR technology allows a unique pairing of copper isotopes, copper-64 and copper-67, for both cancer diagnosis and therapy.
Clinical updates from Asia, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Arrowhead, Ascletis, Astellas, Biontech, Canariabio, Clover, H. Lundbeck, Otsuka, Pfizer, Takeda, Todos Medical.
Regulatory snapshots, including drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations in Asia-Pacific: ABVC, Akeso, Ascentage, Astrazeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, Eli Lilly, Inflarx, Innovent Biologics, Jiangsu Recbio Technology, Kyowa Kirin, Pfizer, Prestige, Sinovac, Skye, Unibio Science, Valneva.
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