Life sciences venture capital company, Brandon Capital, announced the first close of its sixth fund for AU$270 million (US$180 million) during the 2024 Biotechnology Innovation Organization International Convention in San Diego. Fund VI will see Brandon Capital continue to seed new Australian and New Zealand life sciences startups, as well as advance its expansion into international markets, particularly in the U.K., Europe, and the U.S.

South Korean digital health care firm Seers Technology Co. Ltd. is targeting a ₩22.1 billion (US$16.2 million) IPO on the Korea Exchange, after upping the offering price of its 1.3 million shares to ₩17,000 per share on June 4.

Abtis Co. Ltd., Dong-A ST’s newly incorporated subsidiary since December 2023, is making headway with its leading Claudin18.2-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidate, AT-211, according to Abtis CEO Taedong Han. “About 80% of gastric cancers do not have HER2 overexpression, but 77% overexpressed Claudin18.2,” Han told Bio Korea 2024 audience members on May 9, stressing that AT-211 was found to be highly potent against cancer cells expressing Claudin18.2 in ADC cell viability studies.

China’s Medilink Therapeutics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. and Germany’s Biontech SE signed another potential $1 billion-plus deal for novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targets, building off the first ADC-based licensing deal from last year.

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.