Did you know?

ChinaBio® Group is a consulting and advisory firm helping life science companies and investors achieve success in China. ChinaBio works with U.S., European and APAC companies and investors seeking partnerships, acquisitions, novel technologies and funding in China.  

Learn more >>

Free Newsletter

Have the latest stories on China's life science industry delivered to your inbox daily or weekly - free!

  Email address:
   

Week in Review: Tianjin CanSino Staging $160.5 Million Hong Kong IPO

publication date: Mar 23, 2019
 | 
author/source: Richard Daverman, PhD

Deals and Financings

Tianjin CanSino Biologics, a vaccine company, expects to raise up to $160.5 million in a Hong Kong IPO, which will begin trading on March 28 (see story). The company is developing 15 vaccine candidates for 12 disease areas. Its Ebola vaccine has been approved for use, and the company's meningitis and a meningococcal vaccines are near-NDA stage. Both candidates have demonstrated superior safety profiles and immunogenicity in their Phase III trials. CanSino is the seventh China biopharma, and the first vaccine company, to IPO in Hong Kong under its pre-revenue rules.

Abbisko Therapeutics of Shanghai completed a $42 million series B fundraising led by new investor Qiming, which it will use to start clinical trials of its oncology molecules and expand its discovery pipeline (see story). Later this year, the company expects to start Phase I trials of its two lead candidates, a small molecule FGFR4 inhibitor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and a CSF1R inhibitor for solid tumors. Abbisko focused initially on developing therapies against validated targets for China-prevalent indications. Eventually, it will develop small molecules against novel targets.

GenoImmune, a subsidiary of Shenzhen sequencing company BGI, raised $18 million in an A funding round to support its neoantigen discovery for new immunotherapy candidates (see story). The company has developed a service package to detect neoantigens by combining a neoantigen prediction algorithm with whole paired tumor/normal exome and transcriptome sequencing protocols. The protocols are optimized for difficult FFPE or biopsy samples. BGI, formerly known as the Beijing Genomic Institute, developed the techniques. The A round was led by GF Xinde Investment Management, a PE subsidiary of GF Securities.

Sinopharm, the biologics arm of CNBG, partnered with ImmunoBiology (ImmBio), a Cambridge UK vaccine company, to co-develop ImmBio’s novel PnuBioVax vaccine against pneumonia and will be in charge of China commercialization (see story). Sinopharm, which will make multi-million dollar milestone and royalty payments to ImmBio, will manufacture the vaccine for global use. PnuBioVax is designed to be effective against all of the 97 serotypes of the S. pneumoniae bacteria, while present vaccines target between 10 and 23 serotypes.

Germany's Merck (DE: MRK) signed a non-binding MOU with China's GenScript to form a collaboration that will offer plasmid and viral vector manufacturing, an important part of cell and gene therapy products (see story). Merck claims to be one of only a few manufacturers with an industrialized process to make viral vectors. Merck will provide GenScript with comprehensive products, training and consulting services covering process design, facility concept design and quality management set-up from lab development to large-scale GMP manufacturing.

Trials and Approvals

Guangzhou Xiangxue Life Sciences (XLifeSc), a subsidiary of Xiangxue Pharma (SHA: 300147), was approved by China's NMPA to start clinical studies of its T-cell receptor Affinity Enhanced Specific T-cell (TAEST) therapy in patients with solid tumors (see story). Earlier, XLifeSc announced positive results from a small pilot study of the TAEST thrapy in China. Xiangxue in-licensed the therapy from Athenex (NSDQ: ATNX), a New York state biopharma. The two companies jointly formed Axis Therapeutics, which owns global rights (ex-China) to the TAEST therapy.

I-Mab Biopharma, a Shanghai company focused on immuno-oncology and autoimmune diseases, dosed the first patient in a Phase II Taiwan trial of a CD38 antibody in patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (see story). In 2017, I-Mab acquired greater China rights to TJ202/MOR202 from MorphoSys AG (FSE: MOR) in a $120 million deal. The multi-center trial, which will also include mainland China sites, is designed to lead to a biologics license application in greater China. The start of the trial triggers a $5 million milestone from I-Mab to MorphoSys.

I-Mab Biopharma of Shanghai has dosed the first subject in a US Phase I trial of its humanized immunoglobulin G1 antibody targeting granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) (see story). The candidate, TJM2, is the first of I-Mab's innovative pipeline to actually start a US trial, though the company received three US IND approvals earlier this year. TJM2 is aimed at autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, especially rheumatoid arthritis. I-Mab plans to enroll some people of Chinese origin in the trial and use the data to support a similar China trial.

Innovent Biologics (HK: 01801) of Suzhou has begun a US Phase I trial of its anti-CD47 mAb candidate (IBI188) in patients with advanced malignant tumors (see story). By binding to the CD47 antigen on tumor cells, IBI188 is expected to block the CD47-SIRPα signaling pathway, inhibit the "do not eat me" signal, and promote the phagocytosis of tumor cells by macrophages. Innovent called IBI188 a "pivotal product in our pipeline of cancer immunotherapies.

Xynomic, a US-Shanghai oncology pharma, announced that China, Spain and Poland authorities have approved Phase III trials of Xynomic's abexinostat, in combination with pazopanib, in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) (see story). Abexinostat is a novel HDAC inhibitor. Xynomic has already started the same trial in the US and South Korea. Xynomic in-licensed the drug in 2017 (see story), but did not disclose details of the transaction. The molecule was developed by Pharmacyclics, which was acquired by AbbVie in 2015.

Industry Insights

China is currently in the middle of a "Cambrian Explosion" of new drugs, according to Franck Le Deu, Senior Partner and Head of Greater China Healthcare practice at McKinsey & Company (see story). The Cambrian Explosion is the period in Earth's evolution marked by extraordinary growth in the diversity of animal phyla. The same growth is happening in China's biopharma ecosystem, with innovative drugs now being approved and a flood of candidates in clinical trials. Mr. Le Deu isolated five general themes -- some negative, others positive -- about the current state of drug development, which we summarize.

Disclosure: none. 


 

Share this with colleagues:

 

ChinaBio® News

Greg Scott BIO-Europe Interview
Greg Scott Interviewed at BIO-Europe Spring

How to bring your China assets to China in 8 minutes


Greg Scott Mendelspod Interview
"Mr. Bio in China."
Mendelspod Interview

Multinational pharma held to a higher standard in China

Partner Event
November 2-3, 2023 | Shanghai
November 7-8, 2023 | Digital