The top 100 public biopharmaceutical companies with market caps greater than $1 billion, and excluding big pharma companies, spent a total of almost $12 billion on R&D in the first quarter of 2021, compared to $9.4 billion invested last year. A BioWorld analysis of the quarterly filings of this group found that the 24% year-over-year increase in spending was driven, in part, by companies involved in developing COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. Read More
HONG KONG – Mitoimmune Therapeutics Inc., a company that earlier this year completed a ?27.5 billion (US$24.41 million) series B financing led by Korea Development Bank, has received investigational new drug approval in the U.S. for MIT-001, its anti-inflammatory and anti-necrotic agent, moving the company a step closer to entering the clinic. Read More
In their latest submission to Science, Weifeng Shi, director and professor at the Institute of Pathogen Biology at Shandong First Medical University in China, and George Gao, head of Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, have warned that “the global spread of H5N8 avian influenza viruses is a public health concern.” Read More
As infections and deaths continue to surge in some countries so does the demand for unfettered access to the technologies behind COVID-19 vaccines and other medical products. In seeking that access, several countries are stressing the need to develop their own manufacturing capacity as they look beyond the current pandemic. Read More
New three-year safety and efficacy data on Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.'s dengue vaccine candidate, TAK-003, showed it to be 62% more effective than placebo in preventing virologically confirmed infections with the virus and 83.6% more effective than placebo in preventing hospitalizations caused by the mosquito-borne viral disease and due to any of the four dengue virus serotypes in patients ages 4 to 16. Read More
With the advent of targeted therapies, cancer drugs have made strides in safety as well as efficacy. Still, because of the life threatening nature of the illness, safety is less of a focus in cancer drugs than other therapy types. Read More
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Yiviva Inc., a pharmaceutical company focused on developing botanical drugs, has moved its lead candidate further into an international phase IIb trial for liver cancer and closer to an application through the FDA’s little-used botanicals pathway and a similar pathway in China. Read More
BEIJING, China and SANTANDER, Spain – Antengene Corp. and Calithera Biosciences Inc. entered a worldwide exclusive license agreement to develop and market the CD73 inhibitor CB-708 (ATG-037), as part of a push to use the small-molecule inhibitor to grab significant market share in Asia Pacific and global markets. Read More
Biopharmas in Asia-Pacific raising money in public or private financings, including: Duality Biologics, G2, Ose Immunotherapeutics, Renbio, Thinkcyte. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations in Asia-Pacific, including: Akeso, Astrazeneca, Beigene, Biontech, Brii, Cansino, Cytodyn, Eli Lilly, Everest Medicines, Glaxosmithkline, Glenmark, Innocare, Innovent, Kintor, Moderna, Pfizer, Qpex, RDIF, Sorrento, Takeda, Vir. Read More
