PERTH, Australia – Australia’s budget theme for the 2021 to 2022 fiscal year is rebuilding the economy following COVID-19, and med-tech and biotech leaders were praising some of the new measures.
Shanghai and New Jersey-based Lianbio Co. Ltd. has made its second in-licensing deal in a week. This time, it obtained rights for omilancor and NX-13, both under development by Landos Biopharma Inc. for the potential treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) – plus eosinophilic esophagitis, for omilancor – in greater China, South Korea and seven ASEAN countries as part of a $218 million deal.
Shanghai-based Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. raised $105 million in a series C financing round to move candidates, starting with an anti-CD39 antibody, into clinical studies in the U.S. The funds will also support the company’s efforts in finding new mechanisms for cancer immunotherapy and potential partners, it said.
HONG KONG – Splisense Ltd. has closed a $28.5 million series B financing that it said will support pipeline development including its lead antisense oligonucleotide candidate, SPL84-23, for the potential treatment of cystic fibrosis. The Jerusalem-based company, which develops mRNA-altering therapies for CF and other genetic pulmonary diseases, attracted support for the round from Orbimed, Israel Biotech Fund, Biotel Ltd. and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
While partnering activities reached new highs in 2020, Chinese biopharma players found it more difficult to snatch good deals in a more competitive landscape. They now need to act faster and do more preparation work to seize partnering opportunities, panelists said at the Chinabio Partnering Forum.
Amid the trend of investors partnering with Western biotech companies to set up China-focused joint ventures, San Diego-based Kinnate Biopharma Inc. has joined Orbimed Asia Partners, Orbimed Private Investments and Foresite Capital to establish a JV in Shanghai to move its preclinical kinase inhibitor candidates forward in greater China.
HONG KONG – Hummingbird Bioscience Pte. Ltd. has raised $125 million in a series C financing to further investments in its early stage pipeline, as well as support the clinical development of its two lead oncology programs.
PERTH, Australia – Certa Therapeutics Pty Ltd. founder and CEO Darren Kelly knows a thing or two about launching biotech companies. He spun out Fibrotech Therapeutics in 2006 from the University of Melbourne, which was one of the Medical Research Commercialization Fund’s first investments.
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