Recent Articles in Week in Review

Deals and Financings

• China’s drug distributors are in the hunt to acquire Poland’s Neuca, a company with a 32% market share of Poland’s pharmaceutical distribution business and potential access to the EU;
• Shanghai CirCode Biomed, a circular RNA company, closed a Series A financing worth “millions of dollars” in a round co-led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation;
• Jiangsu Simcere Zaiming Pharma acquired China commercialization rights to an EGFR inhibitor developed by Taizhou Mabtech Pharma, a Mabpharm company;
• Shanghai CARsgen will collaborate with Boston’s Moderna to test a combination of their clinical stage Claudin18.2 cancer therapies in solid tumor cancers;

Trials and Approvals

• Suzhou Innovent Biologics was approved to launch its anti-PCSK9 monoclonal antibody in China to treat adult patients with primary hypercholesterolemia;
• Shanghai Dizal Pharma announced its lead drug, sunvozertinib, was approved for China use as a second line therapy for metastatic NSCLC with EGFR exon 20 insertion;
• Jiangsu Hengrui Pharma was approved to launch an azole antifungal to treat severe vulvovaginal candidiasis, commonly known as yeast infections;
• Shanghai HutchMed reported sovleplenib, an oral Syk inhibitor, met its efficacy endpoints in a pivotal China Phase III trial for immune thrombocytopenia;
• Hangzhou Lynk Pharma announced positive topline data from a Phase II clinical trial of a JAK1 inhibitor as a therapy for ankylosing spondylitis;
• AusperBio of Hangzhou announced its lead drug, an antisense oligonucleotide that targets all HBV RNA, was approved to start US trials for chronic hepatitis B.
  
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Deals and Financings

• Jiangsu Hengrui Pharma out-licensed global rights (ex-China) for a novel anti-inflammatory anti-TSLP mAb to One Bio of Florida in a $1 billion agreement;
• Shanghai Sangon Biotech, a company that provides life science tools and services, raised $290 million from private investors in a funding it described as “strategic;”
• Hangzhou Zhongmei Huadong Pharma in-licensed China-SE Asia rights to a topical steroid-free therapy for immune-mediated skin diseases from Arcutis of Los Angeles in a $94 million deal;
• Singapore CytoMed Therapeutics signed a MOU to use Hangzhou CNK Therapeutics’ technology to permanently graft Chimeric Antigen Receptor genes onto gamma delta T cells;

Government News

• China’s State Council announced plans to facilitate foreign direct capital investments to advance its biotech industry, issuing business visas and offering tax incentives to foreign businesses;

Trials and Approvals

• Sichuan Kelun-Biotech reported that its TROP2 ADC met the primary progression-free survival endpoint at an interim analysis in a China Phase III triple-negative breast cancer trial;
• Guangzhou Akeso dosed the first patient in a China Phase III trial of ivonescimab, a PD-1/VEGF bi-specific antibody as a first-line treatment for difficult squamous NSCLC;
• OnCusp Therapeutics of New York City was approved to start US trials of a cadherin-6 ADC candidate for solid tumors that it in-licensed from Shanghai’s Multitude Therapeutics.
  
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Deals and Financings

• Beijing’s BeiGene and BMS have formally broken up the BeiGene-Celgene partnership (BMS acquired Celgene), with BMS returning $340 million worth of ordinary shares to BeiGene;
• Gracell Biotechnologies, a Suzhou-San Diego CAR-T company, closed a private placement worth up to $150 if participants exercise options for additional shares;
• Shanghai Antengene out-licensed China commercialization rights for its XPO1 inhibitor, an approved therapy for multiple myeloma in China, to Hansoh Pharma in a $101 million deal;
• Neurophth Therapeutics, a Wuhan-San Diego company, closed a $95 million Series C+ financing to advance its portfolio of gene therapy ophthalmology candidates;
• Shanghai Investisbio out-licensed China rights to its KRAS G12C inhibitor for NSCLC to Nanjing Chia-Tai Tianqing Pharma, a division of Sino Biopharm;
• Duality Biologics (Suzhou) added a third antibody-drug conjugate candidate to its $1.7 billion partnership with BioNTech, the German mRNA COVID vaccine company;
• Tianjin CanSino Biologics, a vaccine company, partnered with AstraZeneca, providing contract development and manufacturing services for AstraZeneca’s mRNA vaccine program;

Trials and Approvals

• AceLink Therapeutics started a China Phase II trial of its lead drug, a glucosylceramide synthase (GCS) inhibitor for males with previously untreated Fabry disease;
• BioCity Biopharma of WuXi, China was cleared to start a US Phase I study of a CD3/EGFR bispecific antibody that will enroll patients with advanced solid tumors;
• Jacobio Pharma, a Beijing oncology company, reported its KRAS G12C inhibitor was granted breakthrough therapy designation in China for pancreatic cancer patients with a KRAS G12C mutation.
  
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