Everest Medicines Ltd., of Shanghai, appointed Ian Woo president and chief financial officer. He was also named managing director at C-Bridge Capital, one of the leading investors in Everest Medicines. Read More
GNT Biotech & Medicals Co. Ltd., of Taipei, Taiwan, said it awarded exclusive sales and marketing rights in Taiwan of cancer drug chidamide to pharmaceutical distribution company Taiwan Specialty Pharma Corp. for two indications: hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative, late-stage breast cancer in postmenopausal patients and peripheral T-cell lymphoma. The licensing agreement includes up-front and milestone payments of up to NT$30 million (US$1 million), with royalties from sales to be awarded separately. Read More
PERTH, Australia – Australian stem cell therapy company Mesoblast Ltd. said its allogeneic mesenchymal precursor cell therapy showed an overall survival rate of 75 percent compared to an expected 30 percent survival rate in its pediatric phase III trial in acute graft-vs.-host disease (aGVHD) at 100 days. Read More
SHANGHAI – Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Opdivo (nivolumab) has become the first PD-1 inhibitor to be approved for patients in China, in a classic example that China' drug lag is real. Chinese lung patients will have access to the cutting edge immuno-oncology (I-O) therapy four years after it was first approved in the U.S. and after it has been approved in 60 countries. Read More
HONG KONG – Xian Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. has launched Simponi (golimumab injection), making it the first once-monthly self-injectable anti-TNF biologic for patients with active ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in China. Read More