HONG KONG – South Korean pharmaceutical companies Bridge Biotherapeutics Inc. and Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. have forged a partnership to develop a drug candidate targeting pellino proteins for treating ulcerative colitis (UC). Read More
HONG KONG – Clinical-stage biotech firm Athenex Inc. out-licensed to Chongqing Jingdong Junzhuo Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. the rights to commercialize an ointment known as KX2-391 for treating actinic keratosis and oncology indications in China. Under the terms, Athenex will receive an up-front payment of $14.5 million and up to $15 million for development milestones. The company is also entitled to tiered royalties based on annual net sales starting at 15 percent, and with incremental increases of royalties with growing sales. Read More
According to the 2019 J.P. Morgan conference playbook released in advance of the investment bank's 37th annual health care meeting in San Francisco, over the past 18 years the NYSE Arca Biotech Index (BTK) outperformed the S&P 500 index approximately 78 percent of the time during event week. With the curtain now closed on the JPM meeting, the public companies involved in the sector will be pleased to learn that this statistic held true for another year. Read More
What Oppenheimer analyst Leland Gershell a few months ago called "the shift toward non-opioid/locally delivered treatment strategies [in pain], driven by increasing regulatory/payer/institutional hurdles" has brought a handful of players to the fore. Read More
HONG KONG – American firm Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc. (PGDx) has partnered with China laboratory services provider Guangzhou Kingmed Diagnostics Group Co. Ltd. (Kingmed) to commercialize the cancer detection product PGDx elio assays on the Chinese mainland and in Hong Kong. Read More
HONG KONG – After inking a deal last year worth $83 million with Swedish biotech firm Pledpharma AB to acquire the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize Pledox, Japan's Solasia Pharma KK has started the molecule's phase III development in Asia. It's part of a global phase III trial testing the compound, which is used to suppress the development of peripheral neuropathy in colorectal cancer patients. Read More
PERTH, Australia – After nearly 40 years, New Zealand is preparing new legislation to regulate drugs and devices that would replace the Medicines Act 1981. Read More
A subsidiary of Hangzhou, China-based Ascletis Pharma Inc. has negotiated an exclusive license from Suzhou, China-based Suzhou Alphamab Co. Ltd. to develop and commercialize the anti-PD-L1 candidate KN-035 to treat hepatitis B and other viral diseases in greater China. Ascletis will make both an up-front payment and potential milestone payments to Alphamab as well as tiered royalties from the midteens to around 20 percent on any future sales. Read More
Invitrocue Ltd., of Sydney, appointed Masakazu Toi clinical advisor. He will advise the company's research team on clinical validation and cancer menu expansion of its Onco-PDO personalized cancer screening test in Japan. Read More