Kintor’s $240M IPO well received in Hong Kong; CEO says internal early stage R&D will be future focus
BEIJING – Androgen receptor (AR)-related disease specialist Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd., of Suzhou, China, raised $240 million on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on May 22 by issuing 92.3 million shares at HK$20.15 apiece. The IPO was oversubscribed by 551 times, showing the city’s biotech fever.

Kintor’s $240M IPO well received in Hong Kong; CEO says internal early stage R&D will be future focus
BEIJING – Androgen receptor (AR)-related disease specialist Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd., of Suzhou, China, raised $240 million on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on May 22 by issuing 92.3 million shares at HK$20.15 apiece. The IPO was oversubscribed by 551 times, showing the city’s biotech fever.
SK Group prepares IPO for subsidiary SK Biopharmaceuticals
HONG KONG – South Korean conglomerate SK Group is preparing to list its subsidiary, SK Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., on the Stock Market Division of the Korea Exchange.
After Ad5-nCoV, Cansino aims at mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 with Precision Nanosystems
BEIJING – Besides advancing its recombinant adenovirus type-5 vector (Ad5) vaccine for COVID-19, Cansino Biologics Inc. is making a new attempt to develop an mRNA lipid nanoparticle (mRNA-LNP) vaccine together with Canadian company Precision Nanosystems Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia.
News in brief
BioWorld Asia briefs for May 26.
China’s Carsgen set to start trials for first claudin18.2-targeted CAR T-cell therapy
BEIJING – CAR T-cell therapeutics developer Carsgen Therapeutics Co. Ltd., of Shanghai, won IND clearance from the FDA for its first-in-class CT-041 for advanced gastric and pancreatic cancers. The company said it is the first claudin18.2 (CLDN18.2)-targeted CAR T-cell therapy cleared for clinical trials in the world.
Zentalis Pharmaceuticals receives $20 million series A financing to set up Chinese JV
HONG KONG – New York and San Diego-based Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc. has gained $20 million in a series A financing round to support a Chinese joint venture called Zentera Therapeutics.
China’s Inmagene CEO: Cost-efficient innovation for global medical needs
BEIJING – After being a health care investor for 21 years, Jonathan Wang decided to co-found biotech startup Inmagene Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. in July 2019 to seek success in the China market using the experience and insights he had accumulated over the years.
Germline ApoE variants affect melanoma trajectory
Variants in the APOE gene are the strongest genetic risk factor for developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Now, researchers at Rockefeller University have demonstrated that APOE variants also affected the risk of progression and metastasis as well as the response to immunotherapy, in melanoma.

Analysis and data insight

Amid pandemic, companies scramble to salvage trials, move virtual
Clinical
In order to redirect health care resources and protect patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, many drug companies have paused enrollment in some or all of their ongoing clinical trials.
‘It’s a humanitarian effort’: Led by Takeda and CSL Behring, a plasma coalition forms to fight COVID-19
Immunotherapy
A new, worldwide coalition of plasma companies seeking to develop and deliver a hyperimmune immunoglobulin therapy for fighting COVID-19 takes the view that many hands make light work.
Vaccines vet Rappuoli backs trusted technology in race to combat COVID-19
Drugs
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...
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.

Financings

Australia’s Mesoblast raises $90M to scale up stem cell therapy manufacturing to treat COVID-19 ARDS
Australia
PERTH, Australia – Australian stem cell company Mesoblast Ltd. completed a capital raising of AU$138 million (US$90 million) to scale up manufacturing of its allogeneic cell therapy, remestemcel-L, to treat COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Australia

Proteona to use single-cell proteogenomics platform for Australian COVID-19 vaccine trial
Clinical
HONG KONG – Singapore-based Proteona Pte. Ltd. has started a partnership to characterize the clinical response to a new COVID-19 vaccine, with clinical trials soon to start at Flinders Medical Centre testing the candidate developed in collaboration with Adelaide, Australia-based Vaxine Pty Ltd.

Australia’s CSL Behring begins development of plasma treatment from recovered COVID-19 patients
PERTH, Australia – CSL Behring Australia, a subsidiary of CSL Ltd., will begin developing an anti-SARS-CoV-2 plasma product to treat people with serious complications of COVID-19.
Mesoblast reports 83% survival in ventilator-dependent COVID-19 patients following stem cell therapy
Clinical
PERTH, Australia – Australian stem cell company Mesoblast Ltd.’s shares were up nearly 39% on the news that its allogeneic cell therapy showed an 83% survival rate in ventilator-dependent COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) treated at New York’s...

China

Blockchain adoption could help in COVID-19 fight
Asia-Pacific
HONG KONG – Blockchain technology usually is associated with digital currencies. However, it’s now emerging as an important platform for COVID-19 management. It’s been a focus in China, where a top-down approach is key to driving sectors and technology.
Luoxin’s PIK3α inhibitor receives trial nod in China after Novartis’ alpelisib
Clinical
BEIJING – Shandong, China-based Luoxin Pharmaceuticals Group Stock Co. Ltd. said its PIK3α inhibitor, LX-086, has been approved by China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) to enter clinical trials for advanced solid tumors.
Zai Lab and Novocure score the first China approval for glioblastoma in 15 years
Cancer
HONG KONG –Shanghai-based Zai Lab Ltd. has won an approval for the first innovative treatment for glioblastoma approved by China in more than 15 years, with the National Medical Products Administration’s nod for Optune in combination with temozolomide for use in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma.
Bio-Raid’s anti-CD30 CAR T candidate becomes first to enter trials in China
Clinical
BEIJING – CAR T specialist Wuhan Bio-Raid Biotechnology Co. Ltd. said its BRD-01, an anti-CD30 CAR T therapy candidate, has been granted IND approval by China’s NMPA. It is the first CD30 candidate to enter the clinic stage amid an increasingly heated CAR T race dominated by candidates targeting CD19 and BMCA.
Chinese investors continue to show appetite for biopharma and med tech, with Qiming’s $1.1B fund
Financings
BEIJING – During the market downturn caused by COVID-19 disruptions, biotech and med-tech companies continue to attract investors at a time when medical solutions are needed more than ever. Qiming Venture Partners said that it has established a new $1.1 billion fund to target early stage health care and technology investments, the latest good news sector for biopharma and med-tech startups. Known as the Qiming Venture Partners Fund VII, this $1.1 billion fund draws most of its capital from endowments, foundations, family offices and private pensions.

Regulatory

Regulatory front for May 26, 2020
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting biopharma, including: Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, EMA, FDA, House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities, National Institutes of Health, Trump administration, 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.

Medicinal cannabis company Zelira raises nearly AU$5 million as it gears up for commercialization
Australia
PERTH, Australia – With a capital raise of $AU4.58 million (US$3.07 million) under its belt, Zelira Therapeutics Ltd. will be better positioned to launch multiple medicinal cannabis products that are currently in late-stage clinical trials.
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.

Science

Phosphatases are yin to kinases’ yang
Conferences
The activity of many proteins is controlled through phosphorylation by kinases and dephosphorylation by phosphatases.
In vitro study gives ‘blueprint’, drug leads for SARS-CoV-2
A multi-institutional group led by the University of California at San Francisco’s Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) has identified more than 200 host proteins that interacted with SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins during infection, creating “a blueprint of how SARS-CoV-2 hijacks human cells.”
Climate crisis is chronicle of a death foretold
The climate crisis in the time of COVID-19 illustrates the difference between the important and the urgent. There is, of course, no alternative to focusing on the current pandemic. But at the same time, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has not changed the fact that the climate crisis is a coming wave whose health consequences will ultimately dwarf those of any single infectious agent.
Cooperative research effort taking aim at genetics affecting COVID-19 infection
Research
LONDON – Leading genome sequencing groups are launching the first meta-analysis in the hunt for genetic factors that explain why some people have worse COVID-19 symptoms than others, after agreeing to share patient sequence data from around the world.
The next pandemic: Speeding development and stretching supplies
Infection
“Vaccines, obviously, are the ultimate solution for pandemics,” Rino Rappuoli told BioWorld. They have, he added, “already eliminated a lot of pandemic threats – smallpox, influenza, poliomyelitis.”
The next pandemic: Firebreaks and host-directed therapies
Infection
Specific therapies against a new disease take time to develop. But there are methods that can speed up that development.

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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