TOKYO – For three decades now, a dengue pandemic has move around the world, making its way to Europe, the U.S., China and, since last month, Japan. For the first time in 70 years, a local case of dengue was identified in Tokyo. Neglected diseases like malaria, Chagas and dengue, are coming back into the spotlight in Japan thanks to the dengue outbreak and now an infusion of research capital.

NEW DELHI – The Indian biotech firm Biocon Ltd. plans to buy back a stake in its research unit, Syngene, now held by GE Capital. The rapidly growing subsidiary represents more than a quarter of Biocon's revenues. The move, which will cost $35.5 million, is part of Biocon's restructuring of its R&D infrastructure, which will see some activities moved out of India.

SHANGHAI – Beike Biotechnology Co. Ltd., a pioneer in China's stem cell industry, has entered a partnership with Altor Bioscience Corp. in a two-part licensing and equity deal. On the front end, Altor will see its coffers increase by $9 million, in a deal worth potentially $200 million in milestones and sales royalties. The agreement gives Beike the rights to develop and commercialize ALT-803, an interleukin-15 based superagonist complex in China, for all human disease indications.

HONG KONG – The world's largest health care-dedicated investment firm, Orbimed, has secured a $325 million pan-Asia fund to invest in health care markets in the region, particularly in China and India.

HONG KONG – With its latest deal to market vitamin D3 in Greater China, Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd. is continuing along a growth path that has helped the company more than triple its share price in three years.

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Oncology-focused Aslan Pharmaceuticals Pte. Ltd. has started dosing the first patients in a safety study of its lead compound ASLAN001, a small-molecule, oral pan-HER inhibitor for the treatment of solid tumors.

Beigene Co. Ltd., of Beijing, said it achieved a $9 million milestone payment relating to its collaboration with Merck Serono, the biopharmaceutical division of Merck KGaA, of Darmstadt, Germany, for BGB-290, an investigational poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor candidate currently in phase 1 development. Beigene enrolled the fifth patient in the study, which triggered the milestone payment.

NEW DELHI – India's expected share in the global market for biosimilars is between 20 percent and 25 percent in the next five years, but analysts caution that the country needs to improve its funding, innovation capabilities and regulation for large molecule drugs.

HONG KONG – A study by British and University of Hong Kong (HKU) researchers has provided the first direct evidence that reduced genetic diversity is associated with a reduction in virulence of the influenza A virus (IAV) in mice, providing a target for development of new antiviral drugs and a means to improve live attenuated vaccines.