Biopharma happenings in Asia-Pacific including deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: ARS, Alk-Abello, Alfreso, Atsena, Biocytogen, Biontech, Biotheus, CSL, Ideaya, Kaken, Nippon Shinyaku, NS Pharma, Numab, Pediatrix, Qilu, Theravance, Viatris
Radiopharmaceutical biotech and contract development and organization firm Duchembio Co. Ltd. filed a securities report to South Korea’s Financial Services Commission Nov. 11, kickstarting the IPO process to list on the Korea Exchange.
Biopharma financing continued to excel through the first 10 months of 2024, reaching $93.64 billion, a 53% increase from $61.04 billion during the same period in 2023.
University of Auckland senior research fellow Jeff Smaill first visited China in 2012 as part of a team of 15 scientists from the Maurice Wilkins Center, one of New Zealand’s centers of excellence, to meet with scientists at the Guangzhou Institute of Medicine and Health to find partners to collaborate on drug development projects. The scientists started collaborating that year, and the first project is already in phase I trials in China. It was a joint discovery and development partnership from the beginning, he said.
Alteogen Inc. scored another deal for its human recombinant enzyme, ALT-B4, on Nov. 8, reeling in Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. in a potential $300 million deal including $20 million up front and up to $280 million in milestone payments, along with royalties based on net sales.
The FDA has lifted a clinical hold on Carsgen Therapeutics Holdings Ltd.’s. CAR T products after issuing the company a warning letter following a December 2023 FDA inspection that found the company violated good manufacturing practices at its Research Triangle Park facility in Durham, N.C.
Positive findings from a phase III trial of semaglutide in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is moving Novo Nordisk A/S to expand the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist’s indications in the U.S. and Europe, the Danish pharma said, as the MASH field sights more novel therapies.
Abbisko Therapeutics Co. Ltd.’s colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor inhibitor, pimicotinib, met both primary and secondary endpoints in the phase III Maneuver global study evaluating pimicotinib for treatment of tenosynovial giant cell tumor.