Bharat Biotech International Ltd. has successfully developed India’s first indigenous vaccine candidate for COVID-19 to enter human trials. Named Covaxin, the vaccine has been cleared by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare for phase I and II trials after the company submitted positive preclinical study results regarding safety and immune response.
HONG KONG - Ocumension Therapeutics Ltd., a China-based ophthalmic pharmaceutical company, launched its IPO on the Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX) this week. The company seeks to raise more than HK$1.5 billion (US$190 million).
Biotech companies with COVID-19 vaccine candidates are collaborating with Indonesian companies for overseas trials and to ensure wider availability when approved. Sinovac Biotech Co. Ltd., for example, is collaborating with Indonesia’s PT Bio Farma to test and manufacture its vaccine candidate there.
HONG KONG - Mumbai-based Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has been granted manufacturing and marketing approval for the launch of its antiviral drug, favipiravir, for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19, a move it deems a “landmark development for COVID-19 patients in India.”
HONG KONG – India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) has drafted rules for the manufacturing, import and the compassionate use of unapproved drugs in the treatment of patients.
HONG KONG – Korea’s Celltrion Inc. aims to wrap up its first major M&A deal with Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Inc. by the end of 2020, pending approvals.
BEIJING – Three-year-old Asia-focused startup Everest Medicines Ltd. closed one of the biggest financing rounds in China’s health care market this year, adding $310 million to its war chest. The firm is aiming to advance its late-stage assets in-licensed from global partners to the China market soon.
BEIJING – Besides advancing its recombinant adenovirus type-5 vector (Ad5) vaccine for COVID-19, Cansino Biologics Inc. is making a new attempt to develop an mRNA lipid nanoparticle (mRNA-LNP) vaccine together with Canadian company Precision Nanosystems Inc., of Vancouver, British Columbia.
BEIJING – Androgen receptor (AR)-related disease specialist Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd., of Suzhou, China, raised $240 million on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on May 22 by issuing 92.3 million shares at HK$20.15 apiece. The IPO was oversubscribed by 551 times, showing the city’s biotech fever.