Deals and Financings

WuXi Biologics priced its Hong Kong IPO at the top of the range, raising $511 million, according to numerous sources (see story). Demand for the offering was strong, caused by the WuXi pedigree and the fast growing revenues of the biologics business-- up 91% in the first nine months of 2016. The WuXi Biologics offering was 30 times oversubscribed, potential cornerstone investors were turned away, and underwriters closed their books early. The offering values WuXi Biologics at $3 billion, and the new shares are expected to begin trading in Hong Kong on June 13.

SciClone Pharma (NSDQ: SCLN) accepted a $605 million acquisition offer from a group of China investors (see story). Based in the San Francisco area, SciClone markets drugs in China. The investment group first made the offer in November 2016. Originally, SciClone did not seem interested, but its Board has now accepted the unchanged $11.18 per share bid. SciClone says it sees a difficult future as a US-based pharma with operations in China's price-conscious market. The privatization is led by GL Capital Management, which has been affiliated with Ally Bridge Group, an active China healthcare private equity firm. 

ShangPharma Innovation, the US-based biopharma incubator arm of China CRO ShangPharma, will collaborate with The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and its drug discovery affiliate, California Institute for Biomedical Research (Calibr), to accelerate the development of innovative drug candidates (see story). ShangPharma will contribute $15 million in funding and in-kind services over three years. TSRI/Calibr will suggest promising drug candidates. TSRI/Calibr will own rights to the projects, while ShangPharma will receive a portion of any proceeds they may produce. TSRI and Calibr are both located in La Jolla, California. 

PhiSkin, a Shanghai aesthetic medical provider, raised $17 million in a Series B round, led by Legend Capital of China and joined by Ares Management, a Los Angeles alternative asset manager (see story). Founded in 2012, PhiSkin offers minimally invasive treatments that include injection of aesthetic products, laser treatment, double eyelid surgery and other non-surgical beauty treatments. The company already has clinics and beauty centers in Shanghai, Beijing, Ningbo and Hangzhou, with plans to expand to 10 centers by the end of 2017 and 38 by 2019. 

The Qiming US Healthcare Fund led a $10 million Series A funding of Platelet BioGenesis, a Boston startup developing a process to make platelets from stem cells (see story). Platelets, which have a useful shelf life of just two days, are sourced from human donors in a 90-minute procedure. Platelet BioGenesis' technology would guarantee a consistent supply. In January, Qiming, a China-based venture capital investor, announced plans for the $125 million US Fund to support innovative US biopharmas whose products would address needs in China. 

Chiesi Farmaceutici of Italy paid $6 million upfront for greater China rights to an immunosuppressive drug made by Denmark's Veloxis Pharma (CPH: VELO) (see story). Envarsus XR is used to prevent organ rejection following transplant surgery. Chiesi already distributes Envarsus XR in 18 countries, mainly in Europe and ex-Communist countries. It will make a milestone payment of undisclosed size once Envarsus XR is approved for use in China. The agreement, which will run for 15 years, includes mainland China and Taiwan.

The Jackson Laboratory, a major independent US biomedical research institute, will expand into China, forming a clinical genomics research collaboration with three government and university groups in Wenzhou, a prefecture level city in southeast China (see story). The combined effort, which will be known as the Wenzhou Institute for Genomic Medicine, will seek to identify genomic propensities for disease. The new Institute will hire 50 to 70 new staff in the first phase and an additional 200 faculty and staff in phase two.

Trials and Approvals

China’s Nanjing Legend Biotech surprised attendees at Chicago's ASCO meeting with very positive results in an early trial of its CAR-T treatment for multiple myeloma (see story). Of 35 patients enrolled in the trial, 33 (94%) experienced clinical remission, ranging from a complete to a partial response. All enrollees suffered from relapsed or refractory disease. Of the 19 patients who were observed for at least four mouths, 14 experienced a “stringent” complete response (sCR) and five had partial response. At least five patients have maintained sCR status for over a year. 

South Korea's biosimilar specialist Celltrion (KOSDAQ: 068270) presented data from a US Phase III trial that showed its biosimilar, CT-P6, produced efficacy/safety results similar to Roche's (SIX: ROG) Herceptin (see story). CT-P6 was administered as a pre-operative treatment to patients with early-stage HER2 positive breast cancer. The data was released at the 2017 ASCO meeting in Chicago. Celltrion was recently approved to begin China trials of a Remicade arthritis biosimilar, but as yet, it hasn't been cleared to begin China trials of CT-P6. 

OrbusNeich, a global company headquartered in Hong Kong, launched two balloon catheters in the US: the Sapphire™ II PRO and the Sapphire™ NC Plus (see story). The launches are the first entries for OrbusNeich into the US market, even though it has a manufacturing plant there. OrbusNeich makes vascular interventional devices including balloon catheters and stents. The two catheters were recently granted 510k clearance by the FDA. The company has operations in Shenzhen, Florida, Hoevelaken (Netherlands), and Tokyo. 

Disclosure: none.