Deals and Financings

MGI Tech of Shenzhen, a company making gene-sequencing machines and related equipment, completed a $1 billion Series B round led by IDG Capital and CPE (see story). The company is a subsidiary of Shenzhen's BGI, China's largest provider of sequencing services. MGI, which wants to offer a China alternative to Illumina (NSDQ: ILMN) products, makes clinical high-throughput gene sequencers, and its multi-omics platforms include genetic sequencing, mass spectrometry, medical imaging and laboratory automation devices. Founded in 2016, MGI announced a $200 million Series A round one year ago.

Suzhou Kintor Pharma completed a $240 million IPO on the Hong Kong Exchange (see story). Kintor is focused on androgen receptor related diseases including prostate cancer, breast cancer, liver cancer and alopecia. Its pipeline includes novel small molecule drugs, biologics and combination therapies. Kintor expects its lead drug, a prostate cancer candidate known as proxalutamide, will be approved for China commercialization later this year. The IPO was more than 500 times oversubscribed, and Kintor's shares rose modestly in initial trading.

Burning Rock Biotech, a Guangzhou diagnostics company, filed for a NASDAQ IPO to support its precision medicine and early cancer detection business (see story). Founded in 2014, Burning Rock claims to be China’s leading NGS-based cancer therapy selection company with a market share of 27% in 2019. The company offers in-hospital testing in larger institutions and central laboratory testing services to smaller hospitals. Currently, Burning Rock offers 13 NGS-based cancer therapy selection tests for a broad range of cancer types, using tissue or liquid biopsy samples. The company is seeking to raise up to $100 million in the offering.

Immunochina of Beijing formed an R&D collaboration with EdiGene, also based in Beijiing, to develop an allogeneic CAR-T therapy for cancer (see story). The collaboration will combine EdiGene’s expertise in genome editing and allogeneic T-cell processes with Immunochina’s innovative CAR-T technology. The partnership's goal is to develop best-in-class allogeneic CAR-T therapeutics. Immunochina's pipeline includes several CAR-T candidates aimed at advanced cancers, including two with IND approvals. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Coronavirus Pandemic

Shanghai Junshi Biosciences (HK: 1877) reported that a mAb targeting SARS-CoV-2 was able to neutralize the virus in preclinical tests (see story). CB6, which was isolated from a recovered COVID-19 patient, was administered to rhesus macaques on days one and three after intratracheal infection and caused a decline in viral RNA levels measured by throat swabs. In animals treated before infection, viral RNA levels remained minimal or undetectable. The tests were conducted by the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Science, Junshi's partner in the project, and the results were published in the journal Nature.

Shanghai I-Mab (NSDQ: IMAB) will start the second part of its US Phase I trial of TJM2 in patients with cytokine release syndrome (CRS) associated with severe COVID-19 (see story). TJM2, developed by I-Mab to treat rheumatoid arthritis, is a neutralizing antibody for human granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), which plays a critical role in tissue inflammation. After completing a safety review, the trial's data monitoring committee recommended the continuation of the double-blind study at the higher 6 mg/kg dose level that will enroll 144 patients.

Trials and Approvals

Mabspace Biosciences (Suzhou) reported positive results from a Phase I trial of its PDL1 targeting antibody in pre-treated patients with advanced solid tumors and hematological malignancies (see story). Among the solid tumor group, patients who received the highest dose had an overall response rate of 33% (4/12), with three of the four responses lasting to data cutoff. Mabspace described MSB2311 as a second generation PD-L1 antibody that is the first in its class to have an pH-dependent antigen binding property. Mabspace is a subsidiary of China biopharma Transcenta Holding.

Suzhou CStone Pharma (HK: 2616) released updated efficacy data from a Phase I trial of its anti-PD-L1 mAb as a first-line treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) (see story). CS1001 showed objective response rates of 47.6% in the non-squamous NSCLC arm and 75% in the squamous cohort with a benign safety profile. CS1001 was discovered using Ligand's (NSDQ: LGND) fully human OmniAb platform at WuXi Biologics (HK: 2269). In China, CS1001 is currently being tested in a Phase Ib study, two pivotal Phase II trials and three Phase III tests in several tumor types, plus a US Phase I bridging study.

Suzhou Innovent Bio (HK: 01801) has dosed the first patient in a China Phase I trial of its TIGIT candidate, a mAb that binds the anti-T-cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains (TIGIT) (see story). IBI939, which will be tested in patients with advanced malignancies, is the first China TIGIT candidate to start clinical trials. It will be administered as a monotherapy and in combination with Innovent's approved anti-PD-1 drug, Tyvyt®. Innovent says IBI939 disturbs the interaction between CD155 and TIGIT, which weakens the inhibition and depletion of T cells and NK cells.

Disclosure: none.