PERTH, Australia – Despite a Senate inquiry recommendation to hold off on introducing cuts to Australia’s Research and Development Tax Incentive (RDTI), a bill that recommends cuts was introduced in Parliament, sending shudders through the biotech industry. “Ausbiotech is deeply concerned that the RDTI Bill has been reintroduced, despite the Senate Committee’s recommendations to defer consideration of the bill until further examination and analysis of the impact is undertaken,” said Ausbiotech CEO Lorraine Chiroiu. Read More
BEIJING – Luye Pharma Group Ltd., of Yantai, Shandong Province of China, has proposed to acquire Shandong Boan Biological Technology Co. Ltd. for up to $205.8 million to expand and diversify its pipeline portfolio into biologics. The payment is to be in three parts: an initial amount of $102.9 million, followed by payments linked to China marketing approval for two of Boan’s candidates of $51.45 million each. Read More
BEIJING – EOC Pharmaceutical Group, of Shanghai, completed a series C financing round, bagging $71 million to advance its lead programs EOC-103 and EOC-315 for breast and gastric cancers. The round was led by Hangzhou Tigermed Consulting Co. Ltd. and its affiliated funds, TF Capital and Yingke PE. Read More
Targeting prostate cancer (PCa) neuroendocrine (NE) cells via inhibition of the C-X-C motif chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2) is an androgen receptor (AR)-independent therapeutic strategy that can improve the efficacy of treatment for PCa, a leading cause of male cancer mortality. Read More
BEIJING – Tokyo-based biotech firm Heartseed Inc., which focuses on regenerative medicine, has closed a series B financing round to pocket $26 million that will go to its lead drug candidate, HS-001, for treating heart failure. Read More
HONG KONG – Rapt Therapeutics Inc., of San Francisco, and Seoul, South Korea-based Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. entered a license agreement for Rapt’s FLX-475 in Asia. FLX-475 is an oral, small-molecule CCR4 antagonist for cancer treatment. Read More
BEIJING – Chengdu-based Sichuan Clover Biopharmaceuticals Inc. closed a series B financing round to inject another $43 million into its drug development and manufacturing operations, with a focus on biologic candidate SCB-313, developed with its Trimer-Tag technology platform. Read More
HONG KONG – South Korea’s Avixgen Inc., which recently secured ₩10.6 billion (US$9 million) in pre-IPO investment and has raised total funding of ₩27 billion since its series A in 2015, plans to use funds to further develop drug platform technologies and therapeutics for virus-causing diseases such as HIV-1/AIDS. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations in Asia-Pacific. Read More
New and updated preclinical and clinical data related to Asia presented by biopharma firms at the 61st American Society of Hematology annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. Read More
