HONG KONG – Hummingbird Bioscience Pte. Ltd. has raised $125 million in a series C financing to further investments in its early stage pipeline, as well as support the clinical development of its two lead oncology programs. Read More
PERTH, Australia – Certa Therapeutics Pty Ltd. founder and CEO Darren Kelly knows a thing or two about launching biotech companies. He spun out Fibrotech Therapeutics in 2006 from the University of Melbourne, which was one of the Medical Research Commercialization Fund’s first investments. Read More
Amid the trend of investors partnering with Western biotech companies to set up China-focused joint ventures, San Diego-based Kinnate Biopharma Inc. has joined Orbimed Asia Partners, Orbimed Private Investments and Foresite Capital to establish a JV in Shanghai to move its preclinical kinase inhibitor candidates forward in greater China. Read More
Roughly a year and a half after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many unknowns remain about the future of the virus. How it will mutate, how long protection from either illness or vaccination will last, when it will cease to be a pandemic and instead be endemic, even whether the worst is still ahead. And there is also an increasing acknowledgment that there remain unknowns about SARS-CoV-2’s past. Read More
PERTH, Australia – Australia’s budget theme for the 2021 to 2022 fiscal year is rebuilding the economy following COVID-19, and med-tech and biotech leaders were praising some of the new measures. Read More
Shanghai and New Jersey-based Lianbio Co. Ltd. has made its second in-licensing deal in a week. This time, it obtained rights for omilancor and NX-13, both under development by Landos Biopharma Inc. for the potential treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) – plus eosinophilic esophagitis, for omilancor – in greater China, South Korea and seven ASEAN countries as part of a $218 million deal. Read More
Shanghai-based Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. raised $105 million in a series C financing round to move candidates, starting with an anti-CD39 antibody, into clinical studies in the U.S. The funds will also support the company’s efforts in finding new mechanisms for cancer immunotherapy and potential partners, it said. Read More
HONG KONG – Splisense Ltd. has closed a $28.5 million series B financing that it said will support pipeline development including its lead antisense oligonucleotide candidate, SPL84-23, for the potential treatment of cystic fibrosis. The Jerusalem-based company, which develops mRNA-altering therapies for CF and other genetic pulmonary diseases, attracted support for the round from Orbimed, Israel Biotech Fund, Biotel Ltd. and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Read More
While partnering activities reached new highs in 2020, Chinese biopharma players found it more difficult to snatch good deals in a more competitive landscape. They now need to act faster and do more preparation work to seize partnering opportunities, panelists said at the Chinabio Partnering Forum. Read More
Venture capitalists in China are adopting different models to quickly create value from biopharma companies and are able to exit much faster than their U.S counterparts, new data suggest. Read More
Multinational players are changing the way they look at China as a source for innovation as it accelerates efforts in areas such as digital health in pursuit of desire to make a global impact. Read More
Song Guo Zheng, a rheumatology professor and researcher at Ohio State University (OSU), was sentenced May 14 to 37 months in prison for lying on U.S. NIH grant applications about his ties to at least five Chinese research institutes. Read More
Seychelles has seen rising numbers of COVID-19 cases despite 61% of its population being fully vaccinated as of May 8, calling into question the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines used by the island nation. Read More
Clinical updates from Asia, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications, including: Algernon, Antengene, Appili, Arcturus, Biophytis, Constant, Exscientia, Glaxosmithkline, Harbour Biomed, Innovation, Noxopharm, Providence, Regeneron, Reistone, Sanofi, Sumitomo Dainippon. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations in Asia-Pacific, including: Antengene, Ascendis, Astellas, Biontech, Cerecor, Cstone, Everest Medicines, Icanomab, Ix, Organicell Regenerative Medicine, Pfizer, RDIF. Read More
