Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd has formed a partnership with seven other investors to form an investment fund partnership that plans to invest ¥5 billion (US$695M) in local biotech and med-tech companies in Shenzhen, China. The target fund will concentrate on local biotechs, including cell and gene therapy companies, as well as other industries, with 70% to be invested in the biomedical industry.
China’s Pegbio Co. Ltd. is planning a Hong Kong IPO to advance PB-119, its main glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist for diabetes nearing domestic approval, as it hopes to transition to an operating profit.
With early phase II trial data from Cognition Therapeutics Inc.’s lead candidate, CT-1812, for Alzheimer’s disease expected in mid-2024, the firm is hoping to raise $11.5 million from an underwritten public offering of about 6.6 million shares, priced at $1.75 each.
With a second batch of phase Ib data from the trial testing RGLS-8429 in hand from Regulus Therapeutics Inc., Wall Street is looking forward to results from the third cohort in midyear and weighing prospects with the compound in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. Screening of the fourth cohort will start during the second quarter. Meanwhile, the company has begun to mull a pivotal phase II trial that would launch in the middle of next year, and may help with accelerated approval by the U.S. FDA.
Foreign investment in China’s biopharma sector is beginning to pick up after the hit of severe pandemic restrictions, and as Western governments look to revive trading relationships following a spate of diplomatic rows.
Dimerix Ltd. announced a AU$20 million ($US13.22 million) capital raise following the news that its lead candidate, DMX-200, was successful in a prespecified interim analysis of the efficacy endpoint in its pivotal phase III trial in focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a rare kidney disease.