Shenzhen Xbiome Biotech Co. Ltd., an artificial intelligence (AI)-based microbiome drugmaker, raised more than $20 million in a series B+ round, Xbiome CEO Yan Tan told BioWorld, financing that will help the company launch its phase I trial next year. It has been a year since the drugmaker closed a $14 million series B round. During this period, Tan said Xbiome submitted an IND to the FDA in October for its fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) capsule candidate, a potential treatment for graft-vs.-host disease. Read More
Moderna Inc. and Covaxx Inc. are readying for delivery more than 220 million doses of their respective COVID-19 vaccines to Europe and emerging countries in newly cut deals. Moderna, of Cambridge, Mass., said it granted an option to the European Commission to buy up to 80 million additional doses of mRNA-1273 and is set to manufacture 500 million to 1 billion doses globally in 2021. The company said the vaccine, if approved, will ship to the EU beginning in December. The company’s shares (NASDAQ:MRNA) had a solid day Nov. 25, with shares closing 10.78% upward at $109.18. Read More
Moderna Inc., late on Nov. 30, said it has asked the FDA to bless emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1273 after phase III data confirmed it to be 94.1% effective in preventing symptomatic cases of the disease and 100% effective in preventing severe cases. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company said efficacy was "consistent across age, race and ethnicity and gender demographics." Read More
SHENZHEN, China – Ever since Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Shenzhen in October, the southern city has been tasked with developing itself into an innovation powerhouse. Biotech veterans now see Shenzhen, designated China’s first special economic zone in 1980 and a symbol of its opening up, as a biotech innovation hub that will take Chinese innovation overseas.
An international study led by Nanyang Technological University in Singapore has designed and synthesized broad-spectrum antimicrobial polymers (AMPs) and demonstrated the safety and efficacy of two such agents against multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria in mouse models of sepsis. Read More
Clinical updates from Asia, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications, including: Aim Immunotech, Algernon, Ascentage, Biocryst, Capricor, Celltrion, Curevac, Edesa, Equillium, Imago, Marinomed, Moderna, Neoimmunetech, Novavax, Reithera. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations in Asia-Pacific, including: Altimmune, Antengene, Appili, Astellas, Astrazeneca, Basilea, Bio-Thera Solutions, Exelixis, Fibrogen, Innovation, Pfizer, Sirtex Medical, Takeda. Read More
