JHL Biotech Co. Ltd., of Hsinchu, Taiwan, raised $106 million in a convertible bond issuance, which closed May 15, the company said. Proceeds raised from the issue will be used for clinical trials, working capital needs and further development of the company's pipeline of biosimilar treatments. The offering brings JHL's total funding raised to date to $320 million, it reported. VMS Investment Group was the largest subscriber for the issue, which also included active participation from existing shareholders. Ion Pacific acted as sole financial advisor to JHL for the transaction. Read More
Mutations in the adenine nucleotide translocase type 1 (ANT1) gene may confer a risk for bipolar disorder through a complex interaction between serotonin and mitochondri al signaling within the brain, a new Japanese study suggests. Read More
HONG KONG – Chinese biotech firm Shanghai Henlius Biotech Inc. is taking its PD-L1 antibody known as HLX-20 to Australia to enter a phase I trial for the treatment of advanced solid tumors. The approval from the Australian authorities came six months after Henlius filed the investigational new drug (IND) application for HLX-20 to the China Drug Administration (CDA), and the trial will be the company's first in Australia. Read More
Earlier this month, during the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago, Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. provided a sneak peek at data from the pivotal phase III QUANTUM-R study of single-agent quizartinib in patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (r/rAML) with FLT3-ITD mutations. But the Tokyo-based company saved details for the 23rd Congress of the European Hematology Association (EHA) in Stockholm, where the data on the oral selective FLT3 inhibitor were presented as a late-breaking oral presentation during the plenary program. Read More
HONG KONG – Hangzhou, China-based Ascletis Pharma Inc. said its core product, Ganovo (danoprevir) for the treatment of viral hepatitis C, recently approved by the China Drug Administration (CDA), is poised to be a blockbuster for the startup. Read More
PERTH, Australia – Melbourne-based Medicines Development for Global Health (MDGH) became the first not for profit company to register a drug through the FDA's tropical disease priority review program. Read More
