Beigene Ltd. got the green light for an IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Science and Technology Innovation Board, a specialized board known as the STAR Market, that could be worth around $3 billion. It would make Beigene the first biotech company with listings in the U.S., Hong Kong and mainland China.
Neuropace Inc. nabbed $9 million in the form of a five-year NIH grant as part of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. The grant will support the study of the Mountain View, Calif.-based company’s Responsive Neurostimulation (RNS) system in patients with Lennox-Gastuat syndrome (LGS), a debilitating form of epilepsy.
Med-tech firms raising money in public or private financings, including: Alpha Teknova, Check-Cap, Cvrx, Echonous, Novalis Biotech, Social Capital Suvretta, Tendo Systems.
Arrivent Biopharma Inc. has raised a series A financing worth up to $150 million to in-license compounds from China and bring them to the rest of the world. Arrivent’s focus is in oncology and its first in-licensed asset is furmonertinib, a third-generation EFGR tyrosine kinase inhibitor from Shanghai-based Allist Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.
Silicon Valley-based Social Capital and New York investor Suvretta Capital have priced upsized IPOs for four new special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), each intended to address what founders Chamath Palihapitiya and Kishen Mehta described as "suboptimal" outcomes for biotech IPOs of late. Each blank check company, Biotech SPAC Social Capital Suvretta Holdings Corp. I, II, III, and IV, will be funded by a $220 million offering, selling shares at $10 each. They intend to invest in neurology, oncology, immunology, as well as diseases of the heart, kidney, endocrine system and blood.
Hutchmed Ltd., already listed in the U.S. and London, returned to home soil June 30 for a third IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that reaped HK$4.17 billion (US$537.2 million). The Hong Kong-based company is currently looking to score its first FDA approval to tap the U.S. market after three China approvals.
Biopharmas in Asia-Pacific raising money in public or private financings, including: Beigene, Biocytogen, Genfit, Hutchmed, Orum, Sanyou, Strand, Triastek.