RTW Investments LP-backed Ji Xing Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has acquired greater China rights to Cytokinetics Inc.’s omecamtiv mecarbil in a deal worth up to $400 million.
DUBLIN – ITM Isotope Technologies Munich (ITM) SE has secured its first radiopharmaceutical licensing deal in China, a pact with Grand Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. involving two radiopharmaceutical candidates, as well as a companion diagnostic for one of them.
A U.S. federal jury convicted Charles Lieber, the former chair of Harvard University’s chemistry and chemical biology department, on charges related to lying to federal authorities about his affiliation with China’s Thousand Talents Plan and the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT), as well as failing to report the income he received from the institute.
Antengene Corp. Ltd. received marketing approval from China’s NMPA for ATG-010 (selinexor), a drug that was in-licensed from Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. It was approved for use in combination with dexamethasone to treat adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, specifically those who have received prior therapies and whose disease is refractory to at least a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory agent and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody.
Citing recent events that highlighted the risks of investing in companies based in China or that have the majority of their operations there, the U.S. SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance is seeking more specific disclosures from those companies about the legal and operational risks of investing in their securities.
Obi Pharma Inc. has acquired global rights to BSI-04702, an anti-trophoblast antigen 2 (Trop2) humanized monoclonal antibody (MAb), from Biosion Inc. Obi is granted exclusive rights for further preclinical and clinical development, registration and commercialization of the candidate as an antibody-drug conjugate and other derivative products.
China is making some advances in approving and reimbursing drugs to treat or prevent rare diseases. More than 60 rare disease drugs have been approved for marketing in China, with more than 40 of those included in the national medical insurance system, according to figures released at a national conference on rare diseases held in Beijing Dec. 18.
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.
Beigene Ltd.’s listing on the Shanghai STAR Market netted ¥22 million ($3.4 billion) as the company became making it the first biotech firm to be listed on Nasdaq, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the Shanghai STAR Market. But Shanghai shares, initially priced at ¥192.6 each, fizzled quickly, plunging over 16.4% by market close to ¥160.98 on Dec. 15.
Novartis AG has forged even stronger links with Beigene Ltd., taking an option on the latter’s late-stage TIGIT inhibitor cancer immunotherapy ociperlimab in a deal worth up to $1 billion.
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