Astrazeneca nabs PDE3/4 inhibitor for COPD in $2.1B Sino deal
Astrazeneca plc has added a dual PDE3/4 inhibitor candidate to its chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) portfolio via a deal worth up to $2.1 billion with Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd., a Sino Biopharmaceutical Ltd. subsidiary.

Astrazeneca nabs PDE3/4 inhibitor for COPD in $2.1B Sino deal
Astrazeneca plc has added a dual PDE3/4 inhibitor candidate to its chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) portfolio via a deal worth up to $2.1 billion with Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd., a Sino Biopharmaceutical Ltd. subsidiary.
HLB, Hengrui receive third US FDA rejection on liver cancer combo
The U.S. FDA declined to approve, for a third time, an investigational liver cancer drug regimen comprising HLB Co. Ltd.’s rivoceranib and Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s camrelizumab, reportedly citing issues from a drug manufacturing facility inspection.
Drug Farm bags $55M series D to advance AI-developed ALPK1 drug
Drug Farm Biotechnology Co. Ltd. closed a $55 million series D round to advance its AI-developed alpha-protein kinase 1 (ALPK1) inhibitor, DF-003, in a phase III trial for ROSAH syndrome, a rare genetic disease that can lead to blindness.
China’s Mindrank raises $52M series B to advance oral GLP-1
Mindrank AI Ltd. completed a $52 million series B round to advance MDR-001, its AI-discovered oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, which is in phase III trials for obesity in China.
Korea targets generics, innovation in drug pricing overhaul
South Korea is moving ahead with its biggest reform of drug review and pricing in more than a decade, reflecting a wider shift across Asian markets to reward innovation and tighten controls on generics.
Takeda's mezagitamab adds quality-of-life gains to ITP responses
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s anti-CD38 antibody mezagitamab (TAK-079) is showing benefits beyond platelet restoration, with new data suggesting the candidate may improve quality of life for patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and sustain those gains after treatment ends.
News in brief
BioWorld Asia briefs for July 14, 2026
Integrant targets cartilage repair with AI-biologics platform
For decades, treatment options for osteoarthritis have followed a familiar path: As cartilage deteriorates and pain worsens, conservative therapies eventually give way to joint replacement surgery. Australian regenerative medicine company Integrant Pty Ltd. wants to change that trajectory. Rather than replacing damaged joints, the Sydney-based company is building a platform designed to regenerate cartilage and preserve joint function by combining biologics, medical devices and artificial intelligence.
Island Pharma targets Ebola species lacking approved treatments
Island Pharmaceuticals Ltd. has secured government and ethics approvals to deploy its investigational antiviral galidesivir in patients infected during the escalating Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in Africa, giving the small Australian biotech a rare opportunity to collect prospective human data in an active filovirus emergency.
Science fiction realized: BCI tech is here
After decades of clinical research and false starts, have Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) systems finally arrived? With developments accelerating in the field, BioWorld's special series explores the advancements in the space, looking at the implanted technologies, their potential to transfer care, what’s driving investor interest and the challenges ahead.

Analysis and data insight

Behind China’s retractions, a paper-mill economy built on incentives
Clinical
To Ivan Oransky, China’s paper-mill problem is best understood as an incentives story. “This is literally organized crime,” the Retraction Watch co-founder told BioWorld. “Follow the money. When there’s an opportunity to make money, they will find it, and if your whole career is based on how...
China trial retractions put data transparency in spotlight
Cancer
As China becomes a major source of global clinical trial evidence, the retraction of a high-profile China-led lung cancer study is raising questions about whether journals, regulators and drug developers have adequate systems to validate fast-moving clinical claims.
2026 marks critical turning point for BCI technology
Clinical
Decades of research are helping unravel the “black box” of the brain. The second article in BioWorld’s series on the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) field looks at how simultaneous breakthroughs in AI technology are pushing the BCI field from a theoretical concept to a potential real-world, clinical...
China partnerships drive biopharma’s biggest deal month since 2023
Deals and M&A
Biopharma deal value through the first five months of 2026 reached $135.36 billion, outpacing every prior year and topping 2025’s previous high of $103.92 billion. May was the year’s biggest month so far at $41.78 billion in transactions, making it one of the strongest individual months on record,...

Financings

Neuracle eyes Shanghai IPO as global BCI funding surges
Medical technology
Neuracle Medical Technology Co. Ltd. is seeking a Shanghai IPO that could make it China’s first publicly listed invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) company, months after winning approval for the country’s first invasive BCI system.

Australia

Cynata’s Cymerus flops in osteoarthritis, GVHD
A closer look
Neither of Cynata Therapeutics Ltd.’s pivotal trials for its Cymerus stem cell platform met the primary endpoints, with no statistically significant differences between active and control groups on primary or key secondary efficacy measures, CEO Kilian Kelly told investors during a June 22...

Dimerix out-licenses DMX-200 to Everest in AU$481M deal
Endocrine/metabolic
Dimerix Ltd. has signed an exclusive licensing deal with Everest Medicines Ltd. to commercialize its phase III kidney disease candidate DMX-200 in a transaction worth up to AU$481 million (US$340 million), plus sales royalties.
AI, remote care drive new models for Australian medtech
Medical technology
Artificial intelligence, remote monitoring and need-based innovation are beginning to reshape Australia’s medtech sector’s devices, as well as the way health care itself is delivered, according to speakers at the 2026 Ausmedtech conference in Perth May 19-20.

China

Some clinical trials in China under US congressional scrutiny
Clinical
The House Select Committee on China launched an investigation into clinical trials involving U.S. companies that are conducted at Chinese military hospitals and in Xinjiang, China.
Wuxi Apptec seeks immediate relief from US listing
Regulatory
Despite the Biosecure Act’s five-year wind-down period that isn’t expected to start until mid-2028, Wuxi Apptec is already feeling the repercussions of being added last month to the U.S. Department of War’s Section 1260H list.
High-profile retraction tests confidence in China-led studies
Clinical
Nature Medicine has retracted a widely publicized Chinese lung cancer study that suggested administering immunotherapy before 3 p.m. could dramatically improve survival in a decision that comes amid heightened scrutiny of research integrity and data transparency in high-impact biomedical journals.
Corxel-Vincentage’s oral GLP-1 meets phase II obesity endpoints
Clinical
Corxel Pharmaceuticals Ltd.’s oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist, CX-11, met the primary endpoints in a phase II trial evaluating the candidate in obese and overweight patients in the U.S., according to top-line results.
China approves first CAR T for solid tumors
Regulatory
China’s National Medical Products Administration approved Carsgen Therapeutics Holdings Ltd.’s NDA for satricabtagene autoleucel (satri-cel, CT-041), marking the first global approval of a CAR T therapy for solid tumors. The autologous Claudin18.2-targeted CAR T was approved for patients with...

Regulatory

Competitive approach better than restricting deals with China?
Analysis and data insight
The recent introduction of the bipartisan Biotech Investment National Security Act in the U.S. House has industry and venture capitalists urging lawmakers to take a breath, step back, and consider a less invasive approach than restricting U.S. biopharma deals with Chinese innovators.

Newco news

Curacle, Memento ink $1B deal for ocular TIE2/VEGF bispecific
Deals and M&A
Curacle Co. Ltd. inked a potential $1.07 billion deal with U.S.-based “newco” Memento Medicines on May 10, granting the latter exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize preclinical TIE2/VEGF-directed bispecific antibody MT-103 for retinal disorders.

Sonire starts US study of cancer HIFU after $18M series A
Clinical
Sonire Therapeutics Inc. initiated a U.S.-based Sunrise II study of Suizenji, its novel ultrasound-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) system designed to ablate pancreatic tumors, after closing an $18 million series A financing round April 15.
Pilatus PLT-012 takes immunometabolic approach to reprogram TME
Cancer
Pilatus Bio Inc. is working to address a major under-addressed target of current checkpoint inhibitors: metabolic stress within solid tumors. “Traditional immunotherapies release immune ‘brakes,’ but they do not address the underlying metabolic stress in tumors,” Pilatus CEO and cofounder Raven Lin...

Science

CINP 2026: Gut microbiota could predict antidepressant response
Conferences
The gut microbiota may be altered in people with depression as a result of treatment. These microorganisms reorganize differently in individuals who respond to therapy. In a multiomics study of antidepressant-naive patients presented at the 2026...
Kaleidoscope-like ‘engineered disorder’ expands imaging potential
Medical technology
A new metasurface design strategy that replaces rigid order with “engineered disorder” could significantly increase how many optical functions can be integrated into a single ultra-thin device without increasing size or complexity, according to a...
Hematopoietic stem cell research points to leukemia’s early roots
Conferences
Hematopoietic stem cell research over the past century has shown that leukemia may be driven by an invisible hand of inflammation. The bone marrow and inflammation, then, may hold the keys to preventing blood cancers, according to John E. Dick’s...
Targetable ‘high-plasticity cell state’ important for cancer progression, drug resistance
Cancer
Cancer cells expand through mutations – but not just through mutations. They also change their behavior in the absence of underlying genetic alterations. Such plasticity helps the cells both adapt to the cellular stress fueled by out-of-control...
Sea anemone venom acts as a senolytic tool against cancer
Aging
The sea anemone Stichodactyla helianthus, which carpets the Caribbean seafloor, may hold the key to eliminating the senescent cells that survive cancer therapy. A collaboration led by Spanish scientists across several international research...
In 2025, autoimmune work notches scientific, economic successes
Deals and M&A
In October, the Nobel Committee awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Shimon Sakaguchi, Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell for their discoveries in the field of autoimmunity.

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podcast microphone, sound waves on purple background Breakthrough medicines, billion-dollar deals, spectacular clinical successes and crushing failures all play a part in biopharma’s dynamic story. Developers make scientific advancements with the potential to change everything, only to face regulatory conundrums and ever-fluctuating markets. BioWorld tracks key events in the fast-moving sector every business day. Now, the BioWorld Insider podcast lets you hear directly from the movers and shakers whose collective work is changing how we all live. Join us each week for a new conversation.

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