HONG KONG – Kobiolabs Inc., a microbiome-based venture from Seoul, South Korea, has secured a KRW26.6 billion (US$22.2 million) investment. Founded in 2014, the venture has achieved KRW193 billion of enterprise value.

HONG KONG – Taiwan's National Health Insurance Administration has added Gilead Sciences Inc.'s Biktarvy (bictegravir + emtricitabine + tenofovir alafenamide), a once-daily single tablet for the treatment of adults with HIV-1, to its list of reimbursed medicines.

WASHINGTON – Hot on the heels of July's FDA approval of Recarbrio (imipenem, cilastatin and relebactam) in complicated urinary tract infections (cUTIs), Merck & Co. Inc. rolled out pivotal phase III data at the Infectious Disease Society of America's IDWeek 2019 that could support expanding its label to another high-need group, people with hospital-acquired or ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (HABP/VABP).