Beijing- and Shanghai-based Sperogenix Therapeutics Ltd. said that China’s regulatory agency accepted the NDA filing and granted priority review of Agamree (vamorolone) for Duchenne muscular dystrophy on March 26.
South Korean confectionary giant Orion Holdings Inc. has completed the acquisition of antibody-drug conjugate developer Ligachem Biosciences Inc., which recently changed its name from Legochem Bioscience Inc.
South Korean biosimilar-focused Alteogen Inc. said on March 27 that Chung Hye-shin, former chief strategy officer (CSO) and co-founder, sold 1.6 million of Alteogen shares for ₩316.4 billion (US$234.24 million) to foreign institutional investors.
In a potential watershed moment for South Korea’s Hanmi Group, a hair-splitting vote at the 51st shareholder meeting favored the two sons of the late founder and Chairman Lim Sung-ki, effectively halting a merger between Hanmi and OCI Holdings Co. Ltd.
Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare approved Astellas Pharma Inc.’s Vyloy (zolbetuximab) to treat a type of advanced gastric cancer on March 26, making it the first anti-claudin 18.2 monoclonal antibody to gain regulatory clearance worldwide.
South Korean biopharma Aribio Co. Ltd. signed a $770 million deal to sign off exclusive rights to its early Alzheimer’s disease drug, AR-1001 (mirodenafil), in China. The exclusive deal for marketing rights will total about ¥5.59 billion (US$770 million), which includes a non-refundable up-front payment of ₩120 billion (US$90 million) and potential milestone payments, along with royalties.
As investment in Asia biohubs continues into 2024, Merck KGaA’s Milliporesigma is the latest to drop more than €300 million (US$328 million) into a new bioprocessing production center in Daejeon, South Korea.
Nuvation Bio Inc. said on March 25 it will acquire Anheart Therapeutics Ltd., a U.S.- and China-based precision oncology company, in an all-stock transaction, adding Anheart’s ROS1-inhibiting lung cancer drug, taletrectinib (AB-106), to its pipeline.
South Korean biopharma Aribio Co. Ltd. signed a $770 million deal to sign off exclusive rights to its early Alzheimer’s disease drug, AR-1001 (mirodenafil), in China. The exclusive deal for marketing rights will total about ¥5.59 billion (US$770 million), which includes a non-refundable up-front payment of ₩120 billion (US$90 million) and potential milestone payments, along with royalties.
As investment in Asia biohubs continues into 2024, Merck KGaA’s Milliporesigma is the latest to drop more than €300 million (US$328 million) into a new bioprocessing production center in Daejeon, South Korea. Other big pharmas, including Switzerland’s Novartis AG, Denmark’s Novo Nordisk A/S and China’s Wuxi Biologics (Cayman) Inc., are also making multimillion-dollar investments in the Asia-Pacific region, according to company announcements made in March 2024.
