SINGAPORE – Despite a number of advantages as a site for early stage clinical trials, Asia not only lags other regions in the world but the proportion of studies it hosts is actually dropping.

HONG KONG – Marking an important shift in the way the biotech industry operates in Asia, companies are increasingly willing and eager to share information with their peers, governments and industry associations to develop new and more effective immunotherapies.

SHANGHAI – In the almost two years since Chinese police said they were investigating Glaxosmithkline plc for corruption, the industry here has seen compliance go from a mid-level priority, second to meeting ambitious sales targets, to a board-level issue directly concerning senior management teams and those legally responsible for the business.

HONG KONG – Inhibition of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) blocked the characteristic neuronal excitation seen in epileptic seizures in vitro and prevented such events in a mouse model of epilepsy in a study by Japanese pharmacologists, who also identified a promising new treatment for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Immunogen Inc. shares (NASDAQ:IMGN) climbed 16.8 percent to close at $8.69 Monday as Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. pledged $20 million up front plus potential milestones to license exclusive rights to use the company’s antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology to develop and commercialize anticancer therapeutics for up to two undisclosed targets with an option on a third.

HONG KONG – A Chinese biotech company has moved its innovative rabies vaccine into human trials in Singapore, with the hope of making therapy less dependent on the assistance of immunoglobulin.

SHANGHAI – Astrazeneca plc, of London, inked an academic collaboration with leading Singaporean research institutes to take advantage of a unique feature of the small but diverse city-state: access to a population that can provide insights into heart failure.

HONG KONG – South Korean pharmaceutical major Green Cross Corp. is expanding its cell therapy business to China's Guizhou Province, where the local government has welcomed the investment in an emerging new therapeutic area with great potential.

Twi Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Taipei, Taiwan, said its fully owned subsidiary, Twi Biotechnology Inc., has received the designation of rare disease drug by the Taiwan FDA for use of AC-203 to treat epidermolysis bullosa simplex (EBS), and is eligible for applying for coverage under National Health Insurance Administration. Twi Biotechnology has developed proprietary formulations to be used topically for EBS.