Bio Japan 2025 was abuzz with the news that Japan has once again snagged the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with Shimon Sakaguchi winning for his discovery of a subtype of CD4-expressing T cells that affect the immune response. Earlier today, Susumu Kitagawa snatched the second Nobel Prize for Japan, this time in chemistry. Both Nobel Prize winners were professors at Kyoto University.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is exiting all work in cell therapies and will seek an external partner to advance the company’s research and clinic-ready cell therapy programs, the company said, noting that it is not currently running any clinical trials using cell therapy technology.
Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is licensing Hinge Bio Inc.’s multispecific antibody-based therapy HB-2198 in Japan for multiple autoimmune indications, starting with systemic lupus erythematosus.
Nanyang Biologics Pte. Ltd. has entered a $1.5 billion business combination agreement with RF Acquisition Corp II, a Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company. Singapore-based Nanyang Biologics (NYB) is building a hybrid platform to revolutionize drug discovery by combining machine learning with natural compound libraries, and NYB claims it is developing one of the world’s largest AI-curated collections of bioactive compounds.
Nanyang Biologics Pte. Ltd. has entered a $1.5 billion business combination agreement with RF Acquisition Corp II, a Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company. Singapore-based Nanyang Biologics (NYB) is building a hybrid platform to revolutionize drug discovery by combining machine learning with natural compound libraries, and NYB claims it is developing one of the world’s largest AI-curated collections of bioactive compounds.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is exiting all work in cell therapies and will seek an external partner to advance the company’s research and clinic-ready cell therapy programs, the company said, noting that it is not currently running any clinical trials using cell therapy technology.
Kyorin Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. is licensing Hinge Bio Inc.’s multispecific antibody-based therapy HB-2198 in Japan for multiple autoimmune indications, starting with systemic lupus erythematosus.
Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. struck another $1 billion-plus deal, this time for a HER2-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), trastuzumab rezetecan (SHR-A1811), with Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd.’s subsidiary Glenmark Specialty SA.
Novo Nordisk A/S terminated its global licensing deal with Japan’s Heartseed Inc. for its allogeneic induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes.
Phase Scientific International Ltd. launched China’s largest clinical study for urine-based cervical cancer screening. If successful, the blood-based test could be the first non-invasive test for HPV.
