Europe was a bigger counterpart to China in pharmaceutical dealmaking than the U.S. last year, speakers at Chinabio Partnering Forum said April 23, and the trend is likely to continue in 2025 with the shuttering of U.S. capital and volatility ailing global markets.
Ascentage Pharma Group Corp. Ltd. said two of its novel candidates have been included in the 2025 Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology Guidelines, including its in-house developed Bcl-2 selective inhibitor, lisaftoclax (APG-2575), which is under review in China and could be the first domestically approved Bcl-2 inhibitor and the second global approval.
If U.S. sectoral tariffs on biopharmaceuticals become a reality and most country-by-country tariffs on other medical products resume, manufacturers may have to rethink their use of U.S. free trade zones to turn foreign-sourced active pharmaceutical ingredients and other components into finished products for the U.S. market.
Aclaris Therapeutics Inc. has gained IND clearance from the FDA for ATI-052, a bispecific anti-thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP)/interleukin-4 receptor (IL-4R) monoclonal antibody being developed to treat certain immuno-inflammatory diseases. A phase Ia/Ib trial, including a proof-of-concept portion in an undisclosed indication, will begin in the current quarter.
China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has accepted Innocare Pharma Ltd.’s NDA for its second-generation pan-tropomyosin receptor kinase inhibitor, zurletrectinib (ICP-723), for treating adults and adolescents with advanced solid tumors harboring neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase gene fusions.
Sky Labs Inc. CEO and founder Jack Byunghwan Lee reported on plans to greatly expand the market for the company’s blood pressure monitor ring, including seeking regulatory approvals for the CART BP products in the U.S., Europe and Japan.
The European Association of Medical Device Notified Bodies inked a position paper on the EU Artificial Intelligence Act which recites some standing concerns. Perhaps the most interesting passage in the paper is that there is a need for a “well-coordinated approach between member states that are in charge of notified body oversight.”
After more than three years of discussion, the World Health Organization’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) has agreed on a proposal to prevent, prepare and respond to a pandemic. The plan is born, the INB proposal said, out of inequities around the world that slowed timely and equitable access to health products to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
China’s National Medical Products Administration has given the thumbs up to Akeso Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s ebdarokimab for treating moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in adults. An interleukin (IL)-12/IL-23 dual-targeted monoclonal antibody, ebdarokimab (also known as AK-101) is the company's first class 1 new drug approved for autoimmune diseases.
Tired of waiting for the U.S. Congress to get around to making meaningful reforms to pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) practices, states are beginning to take the matter into their own hands. Arkansas recently became the first state to pass a law stopping PBMs, their affiliates or their parent companies from acting as a "fox guarding the henhouse" by being both a price setter and price taker, as the legislation puts it.