Biopharma happenings in Asia-Pacific including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Genfleet, Handa, Imaginab, Nanocopoeia, Orna, Simnova, Telix, Verastem Oncology.
The BioWorld Insider podcast is a monthly dive into the business and science of drug development. Conversations with CEOs and BioWorld analysts in the past 12 months have included a wide range of chats with experts who are shaping the future.
Modest signs of recovery were seen in the biopharma IPO market in 2024, though activity remains significantly below the levels seen during the 2018-2021 boom. In 2024, 32 biopharma companies went public, a slight increase from 27 in 2023 but a decline from 35 in 2022. These figures pale in comparison to the peak years, with 134 IPOs in 2021, 106 in 2020 and even 65 in 2019. Both the total value and volume of IPOs continue to lag far behind those earlier highs.
Mountainfield Venture Partners and Chengdu, China-based Keymed Biosciences Co. Ltd have partnered to form San Diego-based Timberlyne Therapeutics, which will progress Keymed’s CD-38 monoclonal antibody globally excluding China.
Yuhan Corp., Oscotec Inc. and Genosco Inc. were three companies with Asian ties to reap benefit from Johnson & Johnson’s stellar top-line Mariposa study results, wherein J&J’s Rybrevant (amivantamab-vmjw) and Lazcluze (lazertinib) combo regimen beat out Astrazeneca plc’s standard of care in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Abbvie Inc. and Simcere Zaiming Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. are part of the volley of large deals accompanying the opening of the 43rd annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. The two have agreed to develop SIM-0500, a humanized GPRC5D-BCMA-CD3 trispecific antibody, which is in phase I studies in the U.S. and China to treat refractory multiple myeloma.
Data from two out of three positive studies faced the U.S. FDA’s Anesthetic and Analgesic Drug Products Advisory Committee as members examined the package submitted by Seikagaku Corp., of Tokyo, for SI-6603 (condoliase), a chemonucleolytic drug for radicular leg pain associated with lumbar disc hernia.
Wuxi Biologics Co. Ltd. is licensing a preclinical trispecific T-cell engager to Candid Therapeutics Inc. in a deal worth up to $925 million plus royalties.
CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. on Jan. 13 gained the National Medical Products Administration’s approval of Shanzeping (prusogliptin tablets; DBPR-108) as a novel oral dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-4) inhibitor to treat adult patients with type 2 diabetes.
The 2025 edition of Clarivate’s Drugs to Watch features 11 candidates or approved therapeutics that may well revolutionize treatments or become blockbusters. The 12th annual report has a strong track record. Twelve of the 13 drugs from the 2024 Drugs to Watch report have been approved and launched.
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