For the last few years, Hong Kong has been the preferred financial hub for many Chinese health care companies to go public and raise money from global investors. “Biotechnology is today the fastest-growing IPO market segment,” said Nicolas Aguzin, CEO of HKEX, during the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. (HKEX) Biotech Summit 2021.
China’s NMPA has approved JW Therapeutics Co. Ltd.’s relmacabtagene autoleucel, an autologous chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) therapy for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma (r/r LBCL) after two or more lines of systemic therapy. It marks the first CAR T product to be independently developed in China and approved as a category I biologic product there, as well as the sixth approved CAR T product globally. The anti-CD19 therapy, sometimes called relma-cel, will be marketed as Carteyva.
Innovent Biologics Inc. has inked a $312 million licensing deal for the development and commercialization of Genfleet Therapeutics Inc.’s KRAS G12C inhibitor, GFH-925, in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Innovent also has additional option-in rights for global development and commercialization.
For the last few years, Hong Kong has been the preferred financial hub for many Chinese health care companies to go public and raise money from global investors. “Biotechnology is today the fastest-growing IPO market segment,” said Nicolas Aguzin, CEO of HKEX, during the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. (HKEX) Biotech Summit 2021.
Bristol Myers Squibb Co.’s Opdivo (nivolumab) is now the first and only immunotherapy for the first-line treatment of advanced gastric cancer in China.
Zhejiang Jingxin Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has in-licensed JBPOS-0101, a class I new drug for epilepsy, from Bio-Pharm Solutions Co. Ltd. for mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. The partnership could bring South Korea’s Bio-Pharm more than $40 million, including an up-front payment of $5 million, milestone payments of up to $35 million, and potential royalties on future sales.
Binhui Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s BS-001, a recombinant human oncolytic herpes simplex virus type-2 expressing GM-CSF for the potential treatment of solid tumors, has gained an IND approval from the FDA.
Beyondspring Inc. and Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. entered a ¥1.3 billion (US$200 million) deal to commercialize and co-develop the former’s selective immunomodulating microtubule-binding agent plinabulin in greater China.
Brii Biosciences Ltd. made strides toward getting its SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing monoclonal antibody combination therapy, BRII-196/BRII-198, to market with positive interim phase III data that show high-risk outpatients may benefit from the combination therapy up to 10 days following symptom onset.
China’s ongoing efforts to tighten regulations across the board is hitting medical device companies. Two companies that issued shares in Hong Kong for the first time over the past week saw their shares tumble right out of the gate. Acotec Scientific Holdings Ltd. (HK: 6669) shares fell more than 25% on their first trading day on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Aug. 24 amid regulatory changes in China’s health care industry.
