Antimicrobial-focused Tennor Therapeutics Ltd. will debut in Hong Kong May 22, having priced a HK$626.84 million (US$80 million) IPO. The Suzhou, China-based biotech is waiting on China’s National Medical Products Administration approval of lead asset rifasutenizol (TNP-2198), which has potential to become the first targeted combination regimen to treat H. pylori infection.

New regulations tighten regulatory oversight of China’s investigator-initiated trials (IITs) but legitimize the pathway that will be open to other modalities beyond cell and gene therapies.

The recent multibillion-dollar licensing alliance between Bristol Myers Squibb Co. and Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd is not an outlier, but rather the clearest sign yet that China’s biotech industry has entered a new phase of global influence.

Of all the issues that could be on the table at the talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and China President Xi Jinping, the life sciences sector is the “sweet spot” for collaboration between the two countries in a way that would benefit the world, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said in a Brookings Institution webinar in advance of the two-day summit that starts May 14.

Degron Therapeutics Inc. closed a $40 million series A extension round that will see the company advance its molecular glue degraders targeting previously undruggable or insufficiently drugged proteins.

Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co. Ltd. is paying $60 million up front for an option to secure exclusive rights to Aribio Co. Ltd.’s oral phase III-stage Alzheimer’s disease (AD) therapy, AR-1001. The option fee plus license agreement has potential to tally $4.7 billion for Aribio, marking the largest deal for an AD asset inked by a Korean biotech company.

Vincentage Pharma Co. Ltd.’s once-daily oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, VCT-220, met the primary endpoints in a pivotal phase III trial in overweight or obese patients in China. Based on the top-line data, the Chengdu, China-based company plans to submit an NDA for chronic weight management to China’s National Medical Products Administration.

Star Sports Medicine Co. Ltd. debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with an HK$829.55 million (US$105.86 million) IPO May 5, with shares closing about 118% higher on the first day.

In a deal that could be worth up to $1 billion for Suzhou Siran Biotechnology Co. Ltd. (Siranbio), GSK plc licensed exclusive worldwide rights to the siRNA oligonucleotide SA-030, which has recently entered phase I trials for cardiometabolic disease.

It’s a sure bet when the U.S. Trade Representative releases its annual Special 301 Report that Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and Venezuela will be on the Priority Watch List. The 2026 report was no exception.