New year sees Abbvie, Zelgen in $1.1B T-cell engager deal
Abbvie Inc. signed a $1.1 billion New Year’s Eve deal with China’s Zelgen Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., gaining ex-China rights to Zelgen’s lead oncology asset, alveltamig (ZG-006), a trispecific T-cell engager targeting delta-like ligand 3. Under terms of the deal, Abbvie will pay Zelgen an up-front fee of $100 million, and Zelgen is eligible to receive $60 million in near-term milestones and could receive up to $1.075 billion in additional development, regulatory and commercial milestones, alongside tiered royalties on net sales outside China. Zelgen retains full rights in China.

New year sees Abbvie, Zelgen in $1.1B T-cell engager deal
Abbvie Inc. signed a $1.1 billion New Year’s Eve deal with China’s Zelgen Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., gaining ex-China rights to Zelgen’s lead oncology asset, alveltamig (ZG-006), a trispecific T-cell engager targeting delta-like ligand 3. Under terms of the deal, Abbvie will pay Zelgen an up-front fee of $100 million, and Zelgen is eligible to receive $60 million in near-term milestones and could receive up to $1.075 billion in additional development, regulatory and commercial milestones, alongside tiered royalties on net sales outside China. Zelgen retains full rights in China.
AI drug discovery brings $2B+ Sanofi deal to 1-year-old Earendil
Securing a second major partnership with Sanofi SA – this time worth a potential $2.56 billion – Earendil Labs will provide its AI-driven discovery platform to find new therapeutics for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.
Insilico inks $888M drug discovery partnership with Servier
After raising $292 million in its Hong Kong IPO, AI discovery and development biotech, Insilico Medicine, signed an R&D collaboration with French pharma Servier SA valued at $888 million to discover and develop innovative oncology therapies by combining Insilico's AI-driven drug discovery platforms with Servier's global expertise in cancer drug development.
Scinopharm wins US FDA approval of multiple sclerosis drug
Scinopharm Taiwan Ltd. received U.S. FDA approval for its generic version of glatiramer acetate injection, a treatment for multiple sclerosis.
South Korea approves record budgets for health agencies in 2026
South Korea’s National Assembly approved the largest budgets for its health ministries in 2026, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
Drugs to Watch 2026: 11 therapies that could transform patient care
The newly released 2026 edition of Clarivate’s Drugs to Watch report highlights 11 potential blockbusters that could change treatment paradigms for patients.
The economy: Top biopharma trends of 2025
After a volatile but ultimately strong year for biopharma stocks, 2025 delivered a mixed picture marked by sharp workforce reductions alongside resilient capital markets and high-value dealmaking.
Best of BioWorld 2025
A selection of the year's top news.
News in brief
BioWorld Asia briefs for Jan. 6, 2026

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Analysis and data insight

Investment pays off as Asia shapes global biotech trends in 2025
Regulatory
Asia, led by China, is no longer just following global pharma trends. It is helping to shape them, and for investors, innovators and policymakers, the question is no longer whether to engage with Asia, but how to engage wisely in this new, more complex world.
November phase III successes led by HIV wins from Gilead, Merck
Clinical
BioWorld logged 170 clinical trial updates across phases I through III in November 2025, a decline from 252 updates in October and 230 in September, but higher than the 95 reported in August.
Top issues in South Korea’s biotechnology sector in 2025
Deals and M&A
U.S. policy, China’s strategic rise, blockbuster deals and AI dominated South Korea’s biotechnology industry this year, with U.S. tariffs and the Biosecure Act’s hitch onto 2026 legislation serving as major topics of speculation.
Big pharma taps fast Asia innovation in search of next Keytruda
Deals and M&A
Speed and innovation from Asia Pacific’s (APAC) biotechnology sector had big pharma scouring the region for the next oncology heir to Keytruda (pembrolizumab), Merck & Co. Inc.’s reigning blockbuster cancer drug.

Financings

Hanx Bio sees stock drop 46% in $75M Hong Kong IPO debut
Cancer
Hanx Biopharmaceuticals (Wuhan) Co., Ltd. raised HK$586 million (US$75.37 million) in its IPO on the Hong Kong Securities Exchange (HKEX:3378) on Dec. 23 to advance its clinical stage immuno-oncology pipeline.

Australia

Immutep shares rocket on AU$528M deal with Dr. Reddy’s
Deals and M&A
Immutep Ltd.’s stock surged 31% on Tuesday morning following the news that it out-licensed rights to Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. to develop and commercialize eftilagimod (IMP-321, efti) in selected territories in a deal worth AU$528.4 million (US$349.5 million).

Romidepsin offers hope for high-risk neuroblastoma
Science
Australian researchers have found a drug combination that can bypass the cellular defenses in neuroblastoma that lead to relapse, and the discovery could lead to better treatment strategies for children whose cancers have stopped responding to standard chemotherapy.
Myrio first to develop binders with high affinity/specificity
Clinical
Myrio Therapeutics Pty Ltd. has been able to accomplish something no other company has yet been able to crack: to develop binders where both the affinity and the specificity can be increased.

China

China accepts Hutchmed fanregratinib NDA on single phase II trial
Regulatory
Hutchmed (China) Ltd. has moved closer to establishing China’s first domestically developed FGFR-targeted therapy for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, after the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) accepted its NDA for fanregratinib (HMPL-453) and granted the drug priority review.
China approves Innovent’s ipilimumab for colon cancer
Regulatory
China’s National Medical Products Administration approved Innovent Biologics Inc.’s NDA for Tabosun (ipilimumab N01, IBI-310) in combination with sintilimab as neoadjuvant treatment for stage IIB-III resectable microsatellite instability-high or mismatch repair deficient colon cancer.
China approves Abbisko/Merck’s CSF-1R inhibitor pimicotinib
Regulatory
Abbisko Therapeutics Co. Ltd. and its partner Merck KGaA got an early Christmas present from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) with the approval of pimicotinib (ABSK-021), the first domestically developed systemic therapy for tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT).
China introduces new reimbursement list for innovative drugs
Regulatory
China unveiled its first Commercial Health Insurance Innovative Drug List (CIIDL), reimbursing 19 high-value innovative drugs, including all five domestically developed CAR T therapies as well as treatments for rare diseases and Alzheimer's disease.
73 Chinese biotech, med-tech companies file for HK IPOs in 2025
Analysis and data insight
Seventy-three pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies from mainland China filed for IPOs in Hong Kong this year, a review by BioWorld found. In the second half of 2025, 43 new securities reports were filed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, increasing from the 30 applications in...

Regulatory

US Biosecure Act a vote away from law
U.S.
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” seems to be the motto of U.S. lawmakers – at least when it comes to the bipartisan Biosecure Act. After missing a ride last year in the must-pass annual defense spending bill, a version of the bill that seeks to protect the genetic data of Americans...

Newco news

Hits’ Hyperlab launches as ‘virtual AI lab’ for new drug discovery
Protein
Things once done in laboratories can now be done with computers and AI, said Kim Woo-youn, CEO and cofounder of Hits Inc. “We live in the age of ‘digital alchemy,’” Kim told BioWorld, describing how AI is shifting some drug discovery processes from physical to virtual spaces.

Signet builds new model for gastric cancer drug discovery
Cancer
Signet Therapeutics founder Haisheng Zhang is betting on organoids and AI to outsmart diffuse gastric cancer and the limits of traditional “clean” drug design.
SK Bio, Eurofarma launch Mentis Care for digital epilepsy care
Artificial intelligence
SK Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. and Eurofarma Laboratórios SA launched a new joint venture called Mentis Care Inc. Oct. 21, dedicated to developing an AI-powered platform for epilepsy management.

Science

HIV remission after heterozygous CCR5Δ32 stem cell transplant
Cancer
2025 has been the most challenging year in the efforts to fight HIV since at least the advent of antiretroviral therapy. In a report on “Overcoming disruption, transforming the AIDS response,” released last week ahead of World AIDS Day on Dec. 1,...
Adenosine surge is common thread in ketamine and ECT response
Neurology/psychiatric
Researchers from the Chinese Institute for Brain Research, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and their collaborators have identified adenosine as the driving force behind the rapid, fast-acting antidepressant effects of ketamine and...
Opportunity, risks of cell therapy to tackle aging and disease
Analysis and data insight
Stem cells are a promising therapeutic modality to fight aging and age-related disease, speakers at the Bio-Plus Interphex Korea 2025 said. Progress in cell-based longevity medicine is being made, they added, although safety, ethical and...
Bio Japan 2025: Nobel Prizes invigorate Japan’s bio industry
Conferences
Bio Japan 2025 was abuzz with the news that Japan has once again snagged the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with Shimon Sakaguchi winning for his discovery of a subtype of CD4-expressing T cells that affect the immune response. Earlier...
2025 Nobel honors autoimmunity discoveries
Analysis and data insight
The Nobel Committee announced today that it has awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to three scientists for their discovery of regulatory T cells, which are a critical part of the way the body prevents autoimmune attacks.
Allergens attack by way of pores in epithelial cell membrane
Chinese scientists have discovered a common mechanism by which structurally distinct proteins elicit an allergic reaction, showing they cause the formation of pores in epithelial airway cells.

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