After securing $70 million in series B funding, Chinese biotech Medilink Therapeutics Co. Ltd. is gearing up to enter the clinic with its next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).
Jiangsu Atom Bioscience and Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., a company developing an oral a urate anion exchanger 1 inhibitor for the potential treatment of chronic gout, said results of a phase IIa trial show that its lead candidate, ABP-671, reduced serum uric acid levels to less than 6 mg/dL, below the clinically defined threshold of 7 mg/dL for hyperuricemia, or excess of uric acid in the blood, which leads to gout.
SK Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.'s three-pronged plan for tackling epilepsy is going strong, with lead drug cenobamate for drug-resistant focal-onset seizures nearing the finish line, and earlier-stage programs for a mRNA-based approach and a digital therapeutic in the works.
China’s NMPA has given a green light for Walvax Biotechnology Co. Ltd.’s human papillomavirus (HPV) bivalent vaccine to be used against HPV types 16 and 18 to prevent cervical cancer.
Regenerative medicine company Sanbio Co. Ltd. submitted its BLA for its lead mesenchymal stem cell-based treatment, SB-623, to Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare for chronic motor deficit due to traumatic brain injury. The application was submitted through Japan’s Sakigake designation system.
As it settles a patent dispute with Japan’s Chugai Pharmaceutical Co. for $775 million, the U.K.’s Astrazeneca plc is looking to bring intellectual property in-house by snapping up a new generation of talented scientists.
Former JHL Biotech Inc. CEO Racho Jordanov and former Chief Operating Officer Rose Lin were sentenced for their respective roles in conspiring to commit trade secret theft and wire fraud exceeding $101 million. The pair last summer admitted to obtaining confidential, proprietary, and trade-secret information from Roche Holding AG’s Genentech Inc. unit and using what they stole to reduce expenses and hasten the timeline of JHL’s efforts to develop biosimilars.
With the World Health Organization’s COVAX facility having more COVID-19 vaccine doses available than have been requested by the countries it was designed to help, industry groups are pushing back against the proposed TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 vaccines.
SCG Cell Therapy Pte. Ltd. has signed a collaboration agreement with Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)’s Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) to advance the development of multispecific antibodies.
Clinical updates from Asia, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Adamis, Ascentage, Astellas, Biogen, Biontech, Cansino, Clover, Codagenix, Coherus, Cstone, Dr. Reddy's, Eiger, Eisai, Ena Respiratory, Faron, Journey Medical, Junshi, Ose Immunotherapeutics, Paradigm, Pfizer.