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Flagship Pioneering, a Cambridge, MA company, and Singapore’s A*STAR formed a collaboration to back new Singapore-based health and sustainability companies. In a MOU, the two companies agreed to contribute a total of US$77 million over five years, with the goal of creating new companies in Singapore. Flagship, a combination of startup and venture capitalist, forms its own companies with its own capital. The process starts with a “farfetched” question that sometimes becomes a company if the concept seems viable. Flagship supports the young company initially but expects other VCs to fund later development. More details....

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Hong Kong’s GenEditBio received a “strategic investment” from AEF Greater Bay Area Fund, which is managed by Gobi Partners GBA. Although the size of the venture capital funding was not disclosed, the three-year-old company doesn’t appear to have any trouble raising money. Earlier this year, it closed a $90 million round and didn’t publicize the milestone.  GenEditBio plans to offer affordable "precision DNA surgery" for genetic diseases, replacing life-long therapies with a one-and-done gene therapy. More details....

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Kailera Therapeutics launched with a four-drug pipeline aimed at the very crowded target of obesity. The company was formed by four US venture capital companies who funded the startup in a $400 million Series A round. In May, Jiangsu Hengrui announced a $6 billion deal, heavily backloaded, with Kailera, then known as Hercules. Hengrui also received a 19.9% share of Kailera as part of the deal. Kailera, with facilities in the Boston area and San Diego, now has an experienced biopharma CEO, a Board of Directors, and a portfolio of Hengrui’s obesity candidates. More details....

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Regor Pharma, a Shanghai-Boston biotech, sold global rights to Genentech for two early-stage CDK inhibitors (CDKIs) aimed at breast cancer. Regor will receive $850 million upfront, a hefty amount for two Phase I candidates. The company will also be eligible for an undisclosed amount of milestone payments, both developmental and commercial. Roche, Genentech’s parent, said the novel candidates add new targets to its stable of three existing breast cancer drugs (plus a fourth candidate up for FDA approval). More details....

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• Zenas BioPharma staged a rare US biopharma IPO worth $259 million to complete development of its lead product, a bifunctional antibody for autoimmune diseases;
• Hangzhou’s TJ Biopharma, which was spun off when I-Mab left China, sold the China rights for its CD73-targeted antibody to Sanofi in a $237 million deal;
• LongBio Pharma (Suzhou) completed a Series B2 round led by Qiming Venture Partners that raised $14 million for its lead asthma candidate;
• Germany’s Bayer opened its newest life science incubator, Bayer Co.Lab Shanghai, in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang Park;
• AstraZeneca Korea plans a contest to choose two innovative Korean biohealth companies interested in China for its iCampus innovation hub in Wuxi, China.
  
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