Biocon Ltd. said its subsidiary Biocon Biologics Ltd. has agreed to buy out partner Viatris Inc., bringing aboard the latter’s biosimilars business, for $3.34 billion. Read More
Janssen Pharmaceutical Cos. Inc. has become the second company to get a BCMA-targeting CAR T therapy to market with the approval of ciltacabtagene autoleucel for adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (MM) after four or more prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory agent and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody.
With the first global approval by Health Canada in hand, Medicago Inc. aims to provide 20 million doses this year of Covifenz – which itself represents another first, as a plant-originated, virus-like particle, recombinant, adjuvanted COVID-19 vaccine. “Hopefully, if all goes well, we’ll be able to do it faster than the last day of the last month” of the year, said Brian Ward, medical officer of Quebec City-based Medicago, a unit of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp., which partnered on Covifenz with Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK). Read More
LONDON – Antibody-drug conjugate specialist Heidelberg Pharma AG has secured a route into Asia and a fresh injection of much-needed capital, in a licensing and equity deal with Huadong Medicine Co. Ltd. worth up to €930 million (US$1.1 billion). Read More
Huadong Medicine Co. Ltd.’s wholly owned subsidiary Hangzhou Zhongmei Huadong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has acquired Asia-Pacific rights to two drugs from Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in a deal worth up to $662 million. “This collaboration aims to bring Kiniksa’s therapeutics to patients in the Asia Pacific Region suffering from severe autoimmune and inflammatory diseases,” said Sanj Patel, chairman and CEO of Kiniksa. “The collaboration also provides nondilutive capital, cost-sharing, and resources for clinical trials to accelerate our drug development and commercialization efforts.” Read More
Chinese investment in U.S. companies is dropping, but Chinese biopharma firms are increasingly eyeing licensing deals on early stage inventions patented by U.S. universities, Lin Sun-Hoffman, founding partner at Liu, Chen & Hoffman LLP, said during a Feb. 24 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office webinar on biopharma patents in China. Read More
The EU initiated a dispute complaint with the World Trade Organization over China’s intellectual property (IP) enforcement allowing Chinese courts to block infringement litigation worldwide. The Feb. 18 complaint, posted by the WTO last week, takes issue with Chinese courts issuing global injunctions barring patent holders from asserting their rights through legal proceedings in other countries until the case is settled in China. Read More
PERTH, Australia – Biopharma stakeholders are furious about the consultation process the Australian government has pursued with its review of the country’s National Medicines Policy, and they are asking the government to hold off on making any changes until after the federal election that is scheduled for May. Read More
PERTH, Australia – Prota Therapeutics Ltd.’s lead candidate PRT-120 induced clinical remission of peanut allergy in 51% of children in a phase IIb clinical trial. There are currently no curative therapies to treat food allergies, Prota Therapeutics CEO Mimi Tang told BioWorld. Peanut allergy in children can be particularly problematic because the only treatment is avoidance. Read More
Lepu Biopharma Co. Ltd. started trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Wednesday, raising HK$904 million ($115.9 million) in an initial public offering. Trading opened at HK$7.13 per share and slid to HK$6.70 by midday before closing at HK$7.13. Read More
Odeon Therapeutics Inc. has acquired rights to two cancer candidates from Obi Pharma Inc. in a deal worth up to $200 million. The transaction gives Shanghai-based Odeon rights to develop, register, and commercialize the antibody-drug conjugate OBI-999 and a therapeutic cancer vaccine OBI-833 in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Read More
Despite Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s complete response letter (CRL) for bardoxolone in treating kidney function loss in those with Alport syndrome, the street treated the company well on Feb. 28.
Biorchestra Co. Ltd. has raised ￦54 billion ($45.1 million) in its latest series C fundraising, which will boost the development of the company’s lead RNA-based candidate for treating neurodegenerative diseases. Read More
Teclison Ltd. has raised $5.9 million to support further development of its lead candidate, TEC-001, an agent designed to induce tumor necrosis and enhance immune checkpoint inhibitors in solid cancers with liver metastasis. Wtt Investment Ltd., the Taiwan-based family office of the late Taiwanese banker Tsai Wan-tsai, led the financing.
Shanghai Henlius Biotech Inc. has licensed its adalimumab biosimilar Handayuan to Getz Pharma Pvt. Ltd. and its affiliated company Getz Pharma International FZ LLC in an $8 million deal. Read More
Biopharma happenings in Asia-Pacific, such as deals and partnerships, grants, preclinical data and other news in brief: Arbutus, Astrazeneca, Cantex, Clover, Conserv, Crinetics, CSL, Digestome, Foresee, Genevant Sciences, Hitgen, Mitsubishi Tanabe, Moderna, Obi, Odeon, Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho, Seqirus, Shanghai Zhongze, Sunshine, TFF, Trpharm Ilac Sanayi Tic, Valneva, Virios. Read More
