Shionogi forms JV with Ping An to expand in China and targets immuno-oncology for next venture
BEIJING – Osaka-based Japanese infectious disease specialist Shionogi & Co. Ltd. said it will partner with Chinese insurance giant Ping An to establish a data-driven joint venture to develop new drugs in a deal involving ¥33.53 billion (US$311 million). It also plans to tap into immuno-oncology to address the patent cliff of its HIV drugs. Under the terms, the Japanese pharma will sell a 2.05% voting stake, or 6.35 million shares of its common stock, to Ping An for ¥33.53 billion. Shionogi will own 51% of the joint venture while Ping An owns 49%, Shionogi IR group manager Kunihiro Mera told BioWorld.

Shionogi forms JV with Ping An to expand in China and targets immuno-oncology for next venture
BEIJING – Osaka-based Japanese infectious disease specialist Shionogi & Co. Ltd. said it will partner with Chinese insurance giant Ping An to establish a data-driven joint venture to develop new drugs in a deal involving ¥33.53 billion (US$311 million). It also plans to tap into immuno-oncology to address the patent cliff of its HIV drugs. Under the terms, the Japanese pharma will sell a 2.05% voting stake, or 6.35 million shares of its common stock, to Ping An for ¥33.53 billion. Shionogi will own 51% of the joint venture while Ping An owns 49%, Shionogi IR group manager Kunihiro Mera told BioWorld.
Structural studies show similarities and differences in SARS, COVID-19 receptor binding
LONDON – Two papers published online in Nature following accelerated peer review provide fine detail of how the spike protein on the COVID-19 coronavirus binds to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) through which it infects its human host.
Vaccines vet Rappuoli backs trusted technology in race to combat COVID-19
DUBLIN – Three different vaccine technologies are being deployed in the desperate global effort to combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but Rino Rappuoli, chief scientist at the GSK Vaccines arm of Glaxosmithkline plc, said he sees traditional protein-based adjuvanted subunit vaccines, the trusted workhorse of infectious disease prevention, as offering the best bet for delivering a safe and effective vaccine at scale, within the tight timescales necessitated by the present crisis.
China-U.S. collaboration set up to explore COVID-19 vaccine possibility
HONG KONG – Chengdu, China-based Clover Biopharmaceuticals Inc. has teamed up with Emeryville, Calif.-based Dynavax Technologies Corp. on a research collaboration to develop a vaccine candidate to prevent COVID-19.
China’s Abbisko rakes in $70M series C funding amid economic turbulence
HONG KONG – Chinese biopharmaceutical company Abbisko Therapeutics Co. Ltd., of Shanghai, defied turbulent stock markets amid the COVID-19 pandemic to snag $70 million in its latest round of financing.
News in brief
BioWorld Asia briefs for March 31.
Closing panel offers COVID-19 lessons to learn from China
Biopharma industry leaders in China who were the first to experience the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic shared their thoughts during a closing plenary session of the virtual Bio-Europe Spring 2020 meeting.
South Korea’s Qurient posts phase II success with telacebec in drug-resistant TB
HONG KONG – Phase II data of South Korea-based Qurient Co. Ltd.’s novel antibiotic candidate may offer hope that the first universal regimen to treat tuberculosis (TB) regardless of drug resistance status has been found.
Evox scores $882M deal with Takeda for exosome drug delivery tech
LONDON – Evox Therapeutics Ltd. has validated its exosome drug delivery technologies in a $882 million deal with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., in which the partners will develop protein replacement and messengerRNA (mRNA) therapies in five rare disease indications.
Innovent brings in Alector’s anti-SIRP-alpha antibody for China market
BEIJING – Suzhou-based Innovent Biologics Inc. has inked a deal with Alector Inc. to obtain the rights of the U.S. biotech’s AL-008 to develop and commercialize it for oncology indications in China.
Proteona seals partnership for drug discovery platform and COVID-19 antibodies
Proteona Pte. Ltd. has formed a couple of significant partnerships recently, including a Germany-Singapore partnership for a drug screening and discovery platform using single cell multi-omics analysis and an alliance to develop antibodies against coronaviruses.

Analysis and data insight

Moving in record time, industry, government, investors focus on one mission: Beat COVID-19
Conferences
Business as usual only three months ago has transformed into health care industry overdrive as biopharma and med-tech companies scramble to test and scale-up treatments, vaccines and diagnostics to address COVID-19.
Industry, academia pivot: Pipeline of COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutic candidates doubles
Infection
A list of biopharma companies and nonprofit entities, including academia, working feverishly to find a vaccine or antiviral treatment to address the rapidly spreading coronavirus, now known as COVID-19, has more than doubled, increasing from about 30 a few weeks ago to 71 as of March 6.
Don’t repurpose, but develop better drugs, experts say
Infection
BEIJING – While repurposing drugs may be a quick solution to an epidemic like COVID-19 that has a limited research window, it’s just luck as to whether an already available drug candidate exists for newly emergent diseases. Experts say it’s more realistic to develop better drugs instead of...
Trade deal could help China’s biotech upgrade, if honored
China
HONG KONG and BEIJING – Not just multinational players but domestic Chinese pharmaceutical companies are poised to benefit from China’s promise under a phase one trade deal with the U.S. to better protect intellectual property (IP), even if question marks remain around how the deal will be...

Financings

Innocare launches $288M IPO on HKEX, aims to advance BTK inhibitor
Cancer
BEIJING – Cancer and autoimmune specialist Innocare Pharma Ltd., of Beijing, made a strong debut to raise $288 million on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on March 23, marking the second biggest IPO in the city since the beginning of this year.

Australia

As Australia shuts its borders, the country looks within to manage COVID-19 pandemic
Asia-Pacific
PERTH, Australia – As Australia closes its borders to all non-citizens and non-residents, it looks within the country for solutions to manage the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.

Australia’s Mesoblast plans to evaluate its stem cell therapy in patients infected with COVID-19
Clinical
PERTH, Australia – Mesoblast Ltd. plans to evaluate remestemcel-L in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by coronavirus (COVID-19) in the U.S., Australia, China and Europe.
Neuren and Acadia’s trofinetide wins FDA rare pediatric disease designation for Rett syndrome as phase III testing advances
Neurology/Psychiatric
PERTH, Australia – The FDA granted Melbourne-based Neuren Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and San Diego, California-based Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. a rare pediatric disease designation for trofinetide for treatment of Rett syndrome, a rare neurodevelopmental congenital central nervous system disorder.

China

Despite disruptions, COVID-19 could have silver linings for biotech industry
BEIJING – The COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily impacted partnerships and investment opportunities, but it has also prompted other forms of collaboration within the biotech community.
Policy advocates propose measures for clinical disruptions in China
Clinical
BEIJING – China was the first country to face serious disruptions in clinical trials caused by COVID-19, and policy advocates in the country moved quickly to identify lessons for future outbreaks.
Facing COVID-19 disruptions, biotech leaders in China adjust and improvise
Coronavirus
BEIJING – Biotech companies in China were among the first to experience disruptions in their operations and development plans from the COVID-19 outbreak, with employees unable to report to work and difficulties continuing trials.
Sihuan starts clinical trial of Ebola drug favipiravir for COVID-19
Clinical
BEIJING – Beijing-based Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd. said it has initiated clinical trials of broad-spectrum antiviral favipiravir to treat COVID-19. China now has six clinical trials investigating the drug, originally developed for influenza and also tested against Ebola virus disease.
Singapore’s Tessa gains U.S. RMAT designation for CD30 CAR T, expands manufacturing efforts
Cancer
HONG KONG – Tessa Therapeutics Pte Ltd.’s CD30 CAR T-cell therapy has been granted a regenerative medicine advanced therapy designation by the U.S. FDA based on data from two independent phase I/II trials.

Regulatory

Regulatory front for March 31, 2020
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting biopharma, including: Association for Accessible Medicines, Department of Justice, EMA, FDA, Federal Trade Commission, International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities, SEC, White House, World Health Organization.

Newco news

MBD and Azothbio partner for rare cancer drug using AI modeling technology
HONG KONG – MBD Co. Ltd. and Azothbio Inc., both based in South Korea, have entered an agreement for rare cancer drug development using an AI-powered drug discovery platform.

Cell therapy firm Agex looks west to expand into Japan
Cell therapy
In its first step into Japan, Agex Therapeutics Inc. accelerates its development of engineering hypoimmunogenic cells, universal cells that can be used on patients who didn’t generate the original cell and without the need to use immunosuppressants.
Novelty Nobility attracts $9M in series A funding for NN2101 GLP tox studies
HONG KONG – South Korean biotech Novelty Nobility Inc. has attracted ₩10 billion (US$9 million) in series A funding to develop therapeutic antibodies inhibiting the stem cell factor (SCF)/c-KIT pathway.

Science

Targeting glycosylated PD-1 induces potent antitumor immunity
Immunotherapy
Targeting glycosylated PD-1 immune checkpoint may be a promising new cancer immunotherapeutic strategy, according to a collaborative study led by Taiwanese researchers, which was reported online in Cancer Research.
Undetected cases are major source of pandemic spread
Infection
Undetected cases were a major driver of the early spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China, despite being less infectious on a case-by-case basis, according to a modeling study published in the March 16, 2020, online issue of Science.
Opportunity to control epidemic narrowing, as epidemiology gaps frustrate researchers
Infection
LONDON – Six weeks on from the initial alert, “the window of opportunity” to control the COVID-19 epidemic is “narrowing,” according to the latest assessment from WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Researchers trace COVID-19’s family tree to battle outbreak and ‘infodemic’
Infection
SEATTLE – Tracing the family tree of COVID-19 through its evolving DNA sequence makes it possible to disprove many false claims circulating on social media about the novel coronavirus, and, in particular, that it was generated in a covert biological weapons program. “From everything I’ve looked at, there is zero evidence for genetic engineering; it looks like normal evolution,” said Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, who has been using genomes sequences taken from patient samples to track the spread of the virus since Jan. 11.
Researchers cast wide net for rapid-draw weapons in 2019-nCoV fight
Infection
At this very early point in the emerging 2019-nCoV outbreak, knowledge about the virus is insufficient to predict what shape that outbreak will ultimately take.
Not yet a pandemic, 2019-nCoV has echoes of MERS, SARS, flu
Infection
The drug screens prompted by the SARS and MERS outbreaks have been useful for quickly identifying drug candidates. But in terms of their epidemiology, “SARS and MERS were different from this coronavirus,” Allison McGeer explained at a Feb. 3 webinar by Evercore ISI.

BioWorld Perspectives

A decade of incentives to promote antibiotic development and still no viable route to commercial success
It should be motoring to profitability, but nine months after the U.S. launch of its new antibiotic, Zemdri (plazomicin), Achaogen Inc. has filed for...
BioWorld's Top 10: Biggest newsmakers and trending stories of 2018
BioWorld
In many ways, 2018 resembled the previous year in fast motion. Political turmoil accelerated on both sides of the Atlantic, with Asia swept into the fold,...
Deck the halls, or get decked out: BioWorld’s 12th annual Holiday Gift Guide
BioWorld
The holidays are (already) here again. Much as we try to push back the calendar, those Thanksgiving doorbuster, Black Friday blowout, Small Business...
Price increases - tone deaf or defiant?
BioWorld
Defying the laws of nature, many drug companies seem intent on proving that what goes up doesn’t have to come down. For them, the sky’s the limit when it...
PABNAB – A disappointing distraction at BIO, not associated with BIO
BioWorld
On what planet are the PABNAB (Party at BIO not associated with BIO) organizers living to think it was acceptable to spotlight topless dancers with company...
Shoes, ‘Stones’ and surfing: BioWorld’s 12th annual Summer Reading List
BioWorld
Summer arrives with a bang for biopharma in the dueling agendas of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, the BIO International...
If no one reads it, what’s the purpose of a drug label?
BioWorld
Robert Califf said it when he was serving as FDA commissioner. Patient advocates have said it when testifying before Congress or commenting at public...

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