Deals and Financings

CITIC Capital has submitted a $3.6 billion bid to acquire China Biologic Products (NSDQ: CBPO), one of China's top five plasma-based biopharmas (see story). The bid, which came at a 34% premium to the previous close, was unsolicited and non-binding. Headquartered in Beijing, CBPO operates plasma-gathering facilities and offers 20 plasma-based products. The offer, priced at $110 per share, represents a P/E ratio of 37 based on the past 12 months, but only 16.5 on the anticipated 12 months.  

CSL Limited of Australia (ASX: CSL; USOTC: CSLLY) will pay $102 million to buy the remaining 20% in a China plasma company, Wuhan Zhong Yuan Rui De Biological Products (RuiDe) (see story). One year ago, CSL acquired an 80% RuiDe stake from China's Humanwell Healthcare Group (SHA: 600079) for $352 million. The companies had a previous relationship: CSL had been supplying RuiDe with albumin for China. With the purchase, CSL became a full-fledged participant in China's plasma collection and products market.   

Stealth Biotherapeutics, a Boston a clinical-stage biopharma that targets mitochondrial dysfunction, completed a $100 million financing in two convertible note rounds led by Nan Fung Technology's Pivotal Beta (see story). Stealth will use the proceeds to continue a Phase IIb clinical trial of Stealth's lead compound, elamipretide, in intermediate dry age-related macular degeneration. Founded in 2007, Stealth is working on treatments for mitochondrial diseases that remain unmet needs.  

Alpha Biopharma of Shanghai has closed $37 million of a $65 million Series A financing led by Qiming Venture Partners (see story). AlphaBio's lead product is a next-gen small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor aimed at EGFR mutation positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with central nervous system metastases. AZD3759, discovered by AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN), is specifically designed to cross the blood-brain barrier, which most EFGR targeting molecules cannot do, says AlphaBio. The financing will support a global Phase II trial of AZD3759.  

Nuance Biotech of Shanghai in-licensed China rights to a non-opioid treatment for long-lasting pain following surgery from US-based Pacira Pharma (NSDQ: PCRX) in a $58 million agreement (see story). Nuance will pay $3 million upfront and the rest in milestones, plus royalties. Nuance plans to file a Clinical Trial Application in China later this year. Pacira describes Exparel® (bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension) as an anesthesia deposited at the site during surgery or administered as an interscalene brachial plexus nerve block.

WindMIL Therapeutics of Baltimore closed a $32.5 million B financing led by the US arm of China's Qiming Venture Partners (see story). WindMIL is developing a process to extract and expand bone-marrow memory T-cells, called Marrow-Infiltrating Lymphocytes (MILs™), for cancer immunotherapy. The company is currently conducting a Phase IIb clinical trial in patients with multiple myeloma. Qiming is a tech-healthcare venture capital firm that raised $1.4 billion for three funds earlier this year.

WuXi Biologics (HK: 2269)  has begun construction of a $20 million state-of-the-art integrated biologics conjugate R&D/CDMO center in Wuxi city, China (see story). The company said the 6,000 square meter facility, which will become operational in 2019, will provide a full suite of services stretching from concept to commercialization for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and other protein conjugates. In the last three months, WuXi has announced five new facilities around the globe at a total cost of $812 million.

California's Los Altos Pharma has in-licensed greater China rights to a pain product in development from Sedor Pharma of Pennsylvania (see story). Los Altos will have development, manufacturing and commercialization rights to Captisol-enabled™ (CE) Meloxicam. Sedor acquired rights to CE Meloxicam from Ligand Pharma, which applied its Captisol program to increase safety and bioavailability of the drug. Los Altos and Sedor will work to develop IM/IV CE-Meloxicam to treat acute post-surgery, trauma and cancer pain.

Trials and Approvals

CStone Pharma of Suzhou has dosed the first patient in an Australian Phase I clinical trial of CS3006, a selective small molecule inhibitor of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MEK) (see story). CS3006 is CStone's third candidate to start human testing (all of them in Australia). The others are: CS1003, a programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitor and CS1002, a cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein-4 (CTLA-4) inhibitor. CStone plans to tests its candidates as monotherapies and combination therapies, both in China and globally.  

Luye Pharma (HK: 2186) of Yantai announced the CFDA accepted its IND filing for a China Class 1.1 novel analgesia candidate (see story). LY03012 is an extended release oral treatment for chronic pain such as diabetic peripheral neuralgia, musculoskeletal pain and fibromyalgia. Although China is the first country to accept its IND, Luye intends to develop LY03012 in the US, Europe, Japan and other countries. The company expects to begin clinical trials soon.  

Company News 

CASI Pharma (NSDQ: CASI) has reached a long-term agreement with a subsidiary of Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharma to manufacture two generic drugs, entecavir and cilostazol (see story). In January of this year, CASI acquired rights to a 29-drug package of generics with abbreviated new drug applications from Sandoz, a Novartis subsidiary. CASI plans to market the drugs in China, the US and other global markets. CASI is headquartered in Maryland with R&D operations in Beijing.  

Tot Biopharm, a Suzhou oncology company, completed a monoclonal antibodies (mAb) manufacturing facility (see story). The 13,000 square meter site will have a capacity of 16,000L when it is completely built out. Tot will use the plant for its own portfolio of oncology drugs as well as offering CDMO services to other biopharmas. The facility will offer upstream R&D, pilot-scale production, clinical trial-scale drug manufacturing and commercial production. Tot said the plant will produce both biologic drugs and small molecular drugs at commercial scale.  

Industry Insights

Dr. Jonathan Wang, founding partner and Senior Managing Director of OrbiMed Asia, recently spoke with ChinaBio® Today in an exclusive interview about OrbiMed Asia and its place in China's healthcare investing landscape (see story). Currently, China's market is "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he said, though probably in some form of bubble. Dr. Wang foresees a correction, not a crash, sometime in the future. China's very positive underlying situation is too strong to stay in decline for long, he believes. In eleven years, OrbiMed Asia has closed about 50 investments in healthcare companies, and it has made commitments for over half of its $551 million third fund, announced last year.  

Disclosure: none.