HONG KONG – With five drugs in its pipeline and a deal with big pharma worth tens of millions of dollars, Singapore drug developer Aslan Pharmaceuticals Pte Ltd. aims to tap the markets in Taiwan, looking to overcome some flagging investor sentiment on biopharma.

The Board of Taipei Exchange (TPEx) recently granted approval to list Aslan, opening the way for a near-term round of capital-raising for the company, which develops immunotherapies and targeted agents for tumor types common to Asia.

“We’ve been looking to do this for a number of years,” Carl Firth, founder and CEO of Aslan, said of the planned IPO. “For two years we’ve been planning for this event and have made sure that we’ve made the necessary changes and implemented the appropriate processes.” (See BioWorld Today, July 6, 2016.)

In addition to its Singapore headquarters, Aslan also has offices in Taipei, Shanghai and Victoria, Australia. In addition to its pipeline, it has an early stage technology collaboration that could lead to more drugs in the future.

Lead candidate varlitinib (ASLAN001) is a small-molecule reversible pan-HER inhibitor that Aslan is targeting to position as a first-in-class drug for cholangiocarcinoma, a biliary tract cancer, as well as for gastric and colorectal cancers and breast cancer. The biliary tract cancer and gastric cancer programs have now reached pivotal studies. For breast cancer, the firm is preparing to wrap up a phase II study. Meanwhile, Aslan is preparing to launch its colorectal cancer phase II trial.

ASLAN002, a cMET and RON inhibitor, is the company’s second drug, which it had originally licensed from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. before licensing global rights back to BMS in 2016. Last year’s deal with BMS, which is now developing the drug, involved a $10 million up-front payment with $50 million in milestones plus royalties on global sales. Firth described the deal as a “big milestone” for Aslan.

ASLAN003, a DHODH inhibitor is moving into phase II studies. At present, Aslan is running several early experiments to determine which genotype to focus on.

Firth said Aslan’s earlier-stage portfolio is also progressing as planned, with the company teaming up with Taiwan-based JHL Biotech Inc. on ASLAN004, a monoclonal IL-4/IL-13 antibody. JHL is helping to manufacture the materials necessary for ongoing studies.

Aslan’s fifth drug in its pipeline is a monoclonal antibody targeted against RON.

In late 2016, Aslan entered an early stage collaboration agreement with Nanyang Technology University (NTU) in Singapore to explore the university’s technology employing fragments of antibodies. Firth said the antibody fragments possessed unique properties such as tunable half-lives, which allow the tuning of properties based upon how quickly the fragments will be absorbed by the body. Other applications for the antibody fragments include using bacterial expression systems and binding fragments together to hit multiple targets at the same time.

As the collaboration with NTU is in early stages, Aslan has specified three immuno-oncology targets, which it has yet to disclose. Aslan is working with NTU to progress in that area and develop modybodies against those three targets.

WORKING ON THE LAST FEW DETAILS

“Now that we have the approval [for listing in Taiwan], there are a couple of more steps that we need to do, and they’re fairly straightforward and we hope to complete those in the next few months,” Firth said.

Aslan management has yet to decide on a date for its IPO, which would be dependent on a number of different factors, including market conditions.

And for biopharmaceutical companies developing new drugs in Taiwan, those market conditions have been challenging. Investors have been wary of the sector after a high-profile conflict of interest scandal involving OBI Pharma Inc. last year and a high-profile drug failure at Medigen Biotechnology Corp. in 2014. (See BioWorld Today, Feb. 6, 2017.)

Peggy Lee, a Taipei-based analyst at Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting, said she felt that investor appetite in Taiwan for companies focused on developing new drugs has weakened in the past year or two.

“Last year’s controversy surrounding OBI hurt a lot of investors,” Lee said. “Going forward, investors are more likely to proceed cautiously – they’re not going to rush in like before.”

In the wake of the Medigen and OBI news, biopharma companies have been on the receiving end of heightened scrutiny, a reality for which Firth his company are prepared.

“As a public company [in Taiwan] you do have a number of additional obligations, particularly quite extensive reporting obligations, both to the exchange and to the public, and of course more significant obligations in terms of material information disclosure,” said Firth, who previously worked as an investment banker.

“From a capital markets perspective, I obviously have a bit of experience in that area, which has been helpful,” he said. “We’ve also been able to build a great team in Taiwan who also have a lot of experience there, and some very strong advisors.”

Aslan has appointed KGI Securities as its lead underwriter and is represented by the law firm K&L Gates. On the audit side, it is working with Deloitte.