Cambridge, Mass.-headquartered Flagship Pioneering Inc. opened its Asia-Pacific (APAC) headquarters in Singapore on June 1, BioWorldlearned from APAC chair and strategic adviser André Andonian in a May 30 interview.

Celltrion Inc., of Incheon, South Korea, gained MFDS clearance of Eydenzelt (CT-P42) as a biosimilar referencing Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc./Bayer AG’s Eylea (aflibercept) on May 30. The news comes on the heels of the U.S. FDA approving the first Eylea interchangeable biosimilars on May 20.

Miami-headquartered Summit Therapeutics Inc. expanded rights to Akeso Inc.’s non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) drug, ivonescimab (SMT-112; AK-112), June 3 while raising $200 million to advance the therapy.

Although consensus was not reached on the World Health Organization’s pandemic agreement, the World Health Assembly recognized the progress made by member states to develop a pandemic agreement and to strengthen International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005) during the 77th World Health Assembly meeting held May 27 to June 1 in Geneva.

South Korea’s Celltrion Inc. secured May 22 the European Commission’s go-ahead for Omlyclo (CT-P39) to be the first biosimilar to Genentech Inc./Novartis AG’s Xolair (omalizumab) in Europe for three of its major indications.

Cambridge, U.K.-based Astrazeneca plc is looking to Asia, specifically China and Singapore, to build an innovative cancer-focused pipeline filled with antibody-drug conjugates (ADC), monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and cell therapies.

Shares of Redwood City, Calif.-based Rezolute Inc., and Korean parent company Handok Inc., rose May 22 on positive results of a phase II proof-of-concept study for its investigative oral diabetic macular edema (DME) drug, RZ-402. RZ-402 is an oral small-molecule plasma kallikrein inhibitor designed to block vascular leakage and inflammation for treating chronic DME.

Japanese industrial conglomerate Asahi Kasei Corp. has made an offer to acquire Swedish rare diseases specialist Calliditas Therapeutics AB for SEK11.8 billion (US$1.1 billion). The offer, at an 83% premium to the closing share price of SEK113.60 on Monday, May 27, is recommended by the three biggest shareholders and the board of Calliditas, which said the company would benefit from “being part of a larger platform.”

Shanghai- and San Diego-based Degron Therapeutics Inc. secured a potential $1.2 billion deal with Tokyo-headquartered Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. May 23 for a multitarget collaboration and exclusive licensing agreement for molecular glue degraders. “It is a breakthrough technology in the small-molecule drug discovery field,” Degron CEO Lily Zou told BioWorld. “People talk about cell and gene therapy, but small molecules are still the mainstream of drug discovery, [with] more reach.”