China isn’t Asia. That’s certainly one take-away from the 2013 BIO Convention in China, or BIO China. The learning curve is steep for Western biopharmas seeking a toehold in Asia’s largest market, with 1 .4 billion people, and if companies accustomed to doing business in Japan and South Korea expect the same conditions in China, they’re doomed to disappointment.
Just two years after bursting onto the rare disease scene with a $45 million Series A, Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. filed an S-1 with the SEC seeking to raise up to $86.3 million in an initial public offering (IPO). Filing, like other biotechs, as an emerging growth company, the Novato, Calif.-based company applied to list on Nasdaq under the symbol “RARE.”
Although 2013 is the third year for the BIO Convention in China – BIO China, as it’s more commonly known – it’s back to the basics this year as the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and the China Center for Pharmaceutical International Exchange seek to strengthen ties between their members and to connect Western biopharmas with players in the emerging Chinese biotech market.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a relentless disease, and one with a rising prevalence. The National Institutes of Health estimates that some 200 cases are diagnosed every week in the U.S. alone. The advent of oral therapies is a hopeful sign in the effort to slow progression of the disease. The approval of three MS drugs so far in 2013 – followed by a pipeline brimming with hundreds of compounds – speaks to the resources the biopharma industry is aiming at the disease. (See BioWorld Insight, Nov. 4, 2013.)
Immungene Inc. landed a $9 million Series A round from Ally Bridge Group, a health care investment firm with offices in Hong Kong and the U.S., to advance its antibody-cytokine fusion technology platform targeting cancer therapies.
Cytori Therapeutics Inc. shares (NASDAQ:CYTX) headed skyward Tuesday morning after the company disclosed a deal with Chinese firm Lorem Vascular to commercialize Cytori cell therapy in the cardiovascular, renal and diabetes markets in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and subsidiaries Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Scios Inc. will pay $2.2 billion to the U.S. government and 45 states to resolve criminal and civil claims in multiple settlement agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and 45 states.
Genentech Inc.’s Gazyva (obinutuzumab), formerly known as GA101, became the first therapy approved through the FDA’s breakthrough therapy designation, indicated in combination with chlorambucil to treat previously untreated chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).
Stellar third quarter earnings reported last week by Biogen Idec Inc., including another home run for the company with Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate), put a spotlight on the promising pipeline of next-generation multiple sclerosis (MS) drugs. Weston, Mass.-based Biogen is smack in the middle of that hunt. In addition to its four commercial MS products – Ampyra/Fampyra (dalfampridine), Avonex (interferon beta-1a), Tysabri (natalizumab) and Tecfidera – the company has two MS drugs in Phase III development: Plegridy (peginterferon beta-1a) and anti-IL2 antibody daclizumab, which is partnered with Abbvie Inc., of Chicago.
Arno Therapeutics Inc. hauled in $30.7 million through a private placement of common stock and warrants, more than doubling the amount raised by the company in last year’s $14.9 million private placement of convertible debentures.
