Abbisko Therapeutics Co. Ltd. has out-licensed China rights to its colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor inhibitor, pimicotinib, to Merck KGaA in a deal worth up to $605.5 million. Pimicotinib is in phase III trials in patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumors in China, the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Connect Biopharma Holdings Ltd. has been seeking a partner for its atopic dermatitis candidate rademikibart, and it appears to have found the perfect partner in Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, which gains exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize rademikibart in China in a deal worth $120 million plus royalties.
Asep Medical Holdings Inc. is expanding operations into China with a joint venture (JV) with Chinese medical diagnostics firm Sansure Biotech Inc., ramping up the race to commercialize sepsis diagnostics in Asia.
South Korean pharmaceutical Voronoi Inc. said that New Jersey-based Pyramid Biosciences Inc. terminated its previous $846 million deal for Voronoi’s solid and breast cancer drug candidate, VRN-08, in a letter dated Oct. 24, 2023.
Polaris Pharmaceuticals Inc. has submitted the first part of its rolling BLA to the FDA for lead product, ADI-PEG 20, for systemic treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma with non-epithelioid histology in combination with a platinum agent and pemetrexed. The BLA is supported by the pivotal phase III Atomic study in which pegargiminase (pegylated arginine deiminase/ADI-PEG 20) met the primary endpoint of a statistically significant improvement in overall survival and the secondary endpoint of a significant improvement in progression-free survival in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.
In efforts to strengthen cooperation between the U.S. and South Korea’s life sciences sector, industry organizations like Biocom California and KoreaBIO are helping foster cross-border collaboration as Korea looks to ramp up the so-called Bio Economy 2.0. KoreaBIO, which stands for the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization, in its latest feat welcomed a trade delegation run by the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. and the World Trade Center San Diego in November 2023, helping bolster cooperation between companies in Korea and in the San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, regions.
Doubling efforts to thaw the global biotech capital freeze, the U.S. branch of Shanghai-based Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. will ramp up investment into U.S. clinical-stage assets through a new joint investment vehicle with American health care advisory firm Treehill Partners.
Ophthalmology company Polyactiva Pty Ltd.’s biodegradable ocular implant provides six months of sustained drug delivery for patients with glaucoma and is the first biodegradable ocular implant that has the potential to be used safely for repeat dosing, Polyactiva CEO Vanessa Waddell told BioWorld.
Serial biotech-founding venture fund Flagship Pioneering Inc., most noted for launching Moderna Inc. in 2012, is crossing into the Asia Pacific (APAC) region and setting up a regional office in Singapore, a move that comes on the heels of its entry into the U.K. earlier this year.
South Korea’s Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceuticals Corp. said that it struck a deal potentially worth $1.3 billion with Swiss pharma giant Novartis AG for its CKD-510 candidate for neurological and cardiovascular diseases, propelling its shares upward 26.11% by market closing of Nov. 6. With the “largest ever” deal in its history, shares of the Seoul-based pharmaceutical (KOSPI:185750) on the Korea Exchange rose by 26.11%, or ₩26,500, closing at ₩128,000 ($98.70).