Everest Medicines Ltd. and Providence Therapeutics Holdings Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine was cleared for inclusion in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Solidarity Trial Vaccines clinical trial.
Qilu Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. licensed rights to AB-729, an RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic from Arbutus Biopharma Corp., in a deal worth up to $300 million. Qilu obtained rights to develop and commercialize the phase II asset for the treatment of hepatitis B (HBV) in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Under terms of the agreement, Qilu will pay Arbutus $40 million up front, as well as up to $245 million in development, regulatory and sales milestones. In addition, Qilu will make a $15 million equity investment in Arbutus at a price of $4.19 per share.
Avistone Biotechnology Co. Ltd. raised more than $200 million to support its oncology drug development and the acquisition Pearl Biotechnology Co. Ltd. with the aim of creating a “fully-integrated” targeted oncology platform. Vivo Capital LLC led the financing, with participation from Bain Capital LP. and Primavera Capital Group.
Canbridge Pharmaceuticals Inc. has raised HK$604 million ($77.4 million) with a listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange, selling about 56.3 million shares (1228.HK) at HK$12.18 per share. The shares fell to HK$8.90 at the close of trading Dec. 10. Almost half the funds will support advancement of Canbridge’s lead candidate, CAN-008, a glycosylated CD95-Fc fusion protein in phase II testing for glioblastoma, while another quarter will support other major pipeline programs.
Alphamab Oncology Co. Ltd. has won conditional marketing approval from China’s NMPA for KN-035 (envafolimab), the world’s first PD-1/PD-L1 antibody to be administered by subcutaneous injection. The drug was cleared for use in treating adult patients with advanced solid tumors who have unresectable or metastatic advanced microsatellite instability-high phenotype/mismatch-repair deficiency. That includes patients with advanced colorectal cancer who have experienced disease progression after previous therapy with fluorouracil, oxaliplatin and irinotecan.
PERTH, Australia – Radiopharm Theranostics Ltd. raised AU$50 million (US$36.4 million) in an oversubscribed IPO to advance its platform of radiopharmaceutical products for both diagnostic and therapeutic uses.
A Chinese patent covering methods and compositions for the use of CRISPR-Cas9 in eukaryotes has been granted to Dublin-based Ers Genomics Ltd., making what Michael Arciero, vice president of intellectual property and commercial development at the company, called “a strong but not surprising statement by China,” which has made the biotechnology industry one of its top national priorities.
Sotio Biotech AS has licensed Legochem Biosciences Inc.’s technology for five new antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) in a deal that could bring the latter over $1 billion. Prague, Czech Republic-based Sotio will have the rights to deploy Legochem’s Conjuall and potent linker-payload platform, including multiple different payloads, for five therapeutic programs targeting solid tumors and combine its proprietary antibodies with it.
The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has agreed to provide Clover Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. with an additional $36.9 million to support development of SCB-2019, a recombinant trimeric Spike-protein subunit COVID-19 vaccine.
Top-line results of Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd.’s phase III Quantum-First study, testing the addition of quizartinib to chemotherapy vs. chemotherapy alone for adults with newly diagnosed FLT3-ITD positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML), found the combination therapy provided a “statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement” in overall survival vs. standard treatment alone, meeting the trial’s primary endpoint, Ken Takeshita, global head of R&D at Daiichi Sankyo, told BioWorld.
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