BEIJING – Multiple China-based clinical trials have been put on hold as the country concentrates on its fight against COVID-19. To curb the spread of the novel coronavirus that has infected over 72,000 people and killed nearly 2,000, China has imposed travel and transport restrictions, making trips difficult or even impossible for patients and physicians. Read More
SEATTLE – Tracing the family tree of COVID-19 through its evolving DNA sequence makes it possible to disprove many false claims circulating on social media about the novel coronavirus, and, in particular, that it was generated in a covert biological weapons program. “From everything I’ve looked at, there is zero evidence for genetic engineering; it looks like normal evolution,” said Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, who has been using genomes sequences taken from patient samples to track the spread of the virus since Jan. 11. Read More
HONG KONG – South Korea’s venture capital investment in the biopharma and medical sector set a new record in 2019. According to Korea Venture Capital Association (KVCA), local VC firms invested ₩1.1 trillion (US$930 million) over a total of 299 bio and medical ventures last year, representing 25.8% of the total VC investment executed in 2019. Read More
HONG KONG – South Korea’s AI-based biotech venture, Kaipharm Co. Ltd. has secured ₩5 billion (US$4.22 million) in series A funding. Founded in 2018, the firm has attracted a total of ₩7 billion in investments. Kaipharm will generate a reference dataset of 2,000 drugs (KMAP_2K) using next-generation sequencing (NGS). The dataset will include all the FDA-approved drugs to date. Read More
PERTH, Australia – With a capital raise of $AU4.58 million (US$3.07 million) under its belt, Zelira Therapeutics Ltd. will be better positioned to launch multiple medicinal cannabis products that are currently in late-stage clinical trials. Read More
The latest mutation to the coronavirus, dubbed COVID-19, has sparked a reaction by many national governments, but the expense associated with development of vaccines and diagnostics is considerable. Read More
BEIJING – Chinese biotech companies are focusing on fighting the novel coronavirus, now named as COVID-19 by the WHO, after the country’s government called for all possible assistance. Read More
LONDON – As the death toll passed 1,000 and the number of confirmed cases reached 42,000, the World Health Organization on Feb. 11 convened 400 scientists at a global research forum to draw up an R&D blueprint for COVID-19. Read More
Biopharma happenings in Asia-Pacific, such as deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief, including: Amarillo, Aptorum, Cipla, CNS Pharma, Codagenix, Cytodyn, Daewoong, Dr. Reddy’s, J&J, Jianjin University Haihe Hospital, Luye, M8 Pharma, Monash University, Recce, Synergy, Vir, Wockhardt, WPD Pharma, Xiamen Weiyang. Read More
Clinical updates from Asia, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications, including: Acucela, Astellas, Celltrion Healthcare, Kubota, Noxopharm, Pfizer, Seattle Genetics, Takeda, TLC Co. Read More
