HONG KONG – As it advances into its first full year of commercialization in China, Zai Lab Ltd. raised $857.5 million through the sale of American depositary shares (ADS) and ordinary shares, exceeding its initial aim of $750 million. Read More
HONG KONG – Canbridge Pharmaceuticals Inc. signed a collaboration and licensing agreement that could be worth $591 million, gaining global rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize gene therapy candidates from Logicbio Therapeutics Inc. for the treatment of Fabry and Pompe diseases. The candidates are based on Logicbio’s adeno-associated virus (AAV) sL65, the first produced from its Saavy capsid development platform. Read More
HONG KONG – South Korea’s securities exchange operator, Korea Exchange Inc., has relaxed the procedure for tech companies, including biopharma firms, to list on its KOSDAQ board. Under the simplified listing standard, which came into effect on April 26, companies with a market capitalization of ₩500 billion (US$449.26 million) and above will now need to submit only one assessment, with a result of “A” or higher, from a professional evaluation agency. Read More
Cross-border startup Adcentrx Therapeutics Inc., with operations in San Diego and soon in Shanghai, secured $50 million in a series A financing round led by CBC Group to establish its presence in the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) space. Read More
Beigene Ltd.’s selective inhibitor, Brukinsa (zanubrutinib), made up for a 2019 miss in a head-to-head study against Johnson & Johnson and Abbvie Inc.’s Imbruvica (ibrutinib) with positive new data from a phase III trial. Read More
HONG KONG – Shionogi & Co. Ltd. has inked a multitarget drug discovery collaboration for Inveniai LLC’s artificial intelligence and machine learning platform Alphameld. Read More
To honor its part for phase one of the U.S.-China trade deal, China has revised its patent law to establish a drug patent linkage system and provide compensation for lost patent terms. Read More
Using advanced intravital microscopy to visualize immune cell movement within the tissues, investigators at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Melbourne have discovered that noradrenaline causes a dramatic paralysis of immune cell movement. Read More
HONG KONG – Lutris Pharma Ltd., a company taking on the dermal toxicity common to cancer therapy with EGFR inhibitors, has begun testing its lead product, the B-Raf inhibitor LUT-014, in a phase II trial targeting reduction of acne-like lesions associated with the class. Partial results are expected by the end of 2021. Read More
Biopharma happenings in Asia-Pacific, such as deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief, including: Aft, Asahi Kasei, Canbridge, Centivax, Cipla, Cocrystal, Daiichi Sankyo, Dr. Reddy’s, Emcure, Fera, Generex, Gilead Sciences, Guardant Health, Hetero Labs, Hikma, Inveniai, Logicbio, Merck, Mirum, Moderna, New Life, Nicox, Ose Immunotherapeutics, Revive, Ridgeback, Shionogi, Sirnaomics, Soligenix, Sonnet Bio, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, University of Dundee, VBI Vaccines, Walvax. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations in Asia-Pacific, including: Ampio, Biontech, Camurus, CSL Behring, Eagle, Galmed, Hutchmed, Moderna, Pfizer, RDIF, Takeda. Read More
