Announcing two licensing deals with Swiss pharma giant Novartis AG, Shanghai-based Argo Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. said on Jan. 7 that it stands to gain up to $4.165 billion for two of its cardiovascular assets combined. Marking the “first significant overseas out-licensing transaction in the RNAi field from a Chinese biotech company,” the deal includes an up-front payment of $185 million from Novartis to Argo. Read More
The U.S. FDA issued Astellas Pharma Inc. a complete response letter for its BLA for zolbetuximab, citing unresolved deficiencies following its pre-license inspection of a third-party manufacturing facility for claudin 18.2-targeting drug, which was recently listed in the 2024 edition of Clarivate’s Drugs to Watch. Read More
Innovent Biologics Inc. said its glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor and glucagon receptor dual agonist, mazdutide, met the primary endpoints and all key secondary endpoints in its first phase III trial in Chinese adults who were overweight or obese. The company plans to submit the first mazdutide NDA for weight management to China's NMPA shortly. Read More
The 2024 edition of Clarivate’s Drugs to Watch features 13 drugs that highlight an inflection point where amazing, merging tech is finally paying off with ADCs and CRISPR/Cas9 and bispecifics, Matthew Arnold, principal analyst, Clarivate Life Sciences and Healthcare, told BioWorld. Read More
Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH’s start to the new year includes two fresh deals across two continents. BI struck one deal with Kunshan, China-based Suzhou Ribo Life Science Co. Ltd. and its Mölndal, Sweden-based subsidiary, Ribocure Pharmaceuticals AB, to develop small interfering RNA (siRNA) treatments for nonalcoholic or metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. It struck a second deal with San Francisco-based 3T Biosciences Inc. to develop cancer immunotherapies, which builds on an earlier collaboration formed last year. Combined, the two deals are worth more than $2.5 billion. Read More
Three months out from its first $1 billion deal with Biontech SE for an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), Suzhou, China-based Medilink Therapeutics Co. Ltd. clinched another potential $1 billion ADC deal, but this time with Roche Holding AG. Read More
Amid a flurry of dealmaking activity to start 2024, Allorion Therapeutics Inc., a 2020 startup based in Natick, Mass., and Guangzhou, China, has been extra busy. Two days after disclosing a potential $540 million deal with Astrazeneca plc, Allorion inked a licensing agreement with Avenzo Therapeutics Inc. that could total more than $1 billion. Read More
Boston-based Praxis Precision Medicines Inc.’s shares rose nearly 25% on Jan. 8 after it announced a pipeline update and licensing deal for its tremor drug, ulixacaltamide (PRAX-944), with Shanghai’s Tenacia Biotechnology Co. Ltd. Read More
Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Inc. is picking up LG Chem Ltd.’s oral small-molecule drug, LB-54640, for potentially $305 million, effectively growing its MC4R pipeline that houses U.S. FDA-approved Imcivree (setmelanotide) for genetic obesity disorders. Read More
The field of peptides is exploding, Perpetual Medicines Corp. co-founder, chairman and CEO Kerry L. Blanchard recently told BioWorld, “with a projected growth rate far surpassing large and small molecules, and gene therapies. The area is underinvested, too, so this is a good opportunity to focus on peptide therapeutics.” Read More
Sciwind Biosciences Co. Ltd.’s injectable glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analog, ecnoglutide (XW-003), achieved positive top-line results in a phase III trial in Chinese adults with type 2 diabetes. A long-acting, cAMP signaling biased GLP-1 analog, ecnoglutide is being developed for treating type 2 diabetes and obesity. GLP-1 receptor agonists are increasingly gaining attention in the obesity therapy area. Read More
If we unraveled the DNA of the 46 chromosomes of a single human cell, it would barely measure 2 meters. If we did the same with the rest of the body, if we aligned the 3 billion base pairs of its 5 trillion cells, we could travel the distance from the Earth to the Sun more than 100 times. It seems unreachable. However, that is the unit of knowledge of the large sequencing projects achieved in 2023. Read More
Eisai Co. Ltd. and Oita University in Oita Prefecture, Japan, developed a first-of-its-kind machine learning model to predict amyloid beta accumulation in the brain using a wristband sensor. The model, which collects biological and lifestyle data from daily life, is expected to enable screening for brain amyloid beta accumulation to identify those at risk for Alzheimer's disease, particularly because amyloid beta begins to accumulate in the brain about 20 years before the onset of the disease. Read More
Clinical updates from Asia, including trial initiations, enrollment status and data readouts and publications: Delta-Fly, GPN Vaccines, Immutep, Jiangsu Recbio, Gannex Pharma, Belief Biomed, Innovent, Sciwind. Read More
Regulatory snapshots, including drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations in Asia-Pacific: Atom, Junshi, Obi Pharma, Remegen, Wintermute, Vcare Pharmatech. Read More
