Excalipoint closes $68.7M seed round for cancer T-cell engagers
Excalipoint Therapeutics Inc. launched with an oversubscribed $68.7 million seed financing round to advance a portfolio of T-cell engagers for solid tumors, marking one of the largest early stage financings in China biotech history.

Excalipoint closes $68.7M seed round for cancer T-cell engagers
Excalipoint Therapeutics Inc. launched with an oversubscribed $68.7 million seed financing round to advance a portfolio of T-cell engagers for solid tumors, marking one of the largest early stage financings in China biotech history.
Imbiologics crosses $1B market cap with Kosdaq debut
Imbiologics Corp.’s market capitalization reached ₩1.5 trillion (US$1.02 billion) on its Kosdaq debut March 20, as the biotech seeks to become a leading antibody drugmaker for autoimmune diseases.
How to grow a startup in the AI era: MedTech Spotlight Korea 2026
AI and advanced biotechnology are reshaping South Korea’s med-tech sector, but great technology alone is not enough to build a successful medical device company, speakers said at MedTech Innovator’s Medtech Spotlight: New Impact Korea 2026.
Simcere’s PD-L1/IL-15 bispecific sees early edge in bladder cancer
Early clinical data from Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. suggest its PD-L1/IL-15 bispecific antibody, SIM-0237, could emerge as a next-generation contender in Bacillus Calmette-Guérin-unresponsive non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
News in brief
BioWorld Asia briefs for March 24, 2026
Australia’s R&D reset puts biotech translation in focus
Australia is attempting a once-in-a-generation reset of its innovation system, and biotech industry leaders have lauded the federal government’s independent review into Australia's slipping R&D ranks and its proposals to reverse the decline.
China’s pharma rise rattles US policymakers
U.S. lawmakers and industry experts are raising alarm over China’s expanding dominance across the pharmaceutical supply chain, warning that reliance on Chinese inputs poses a growing national security and public health risk.
Kintor’s KX-826 meets phase III endpoints in alopecia
Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd.’s topical androgen receptor antagonist, pyrilutamide (KX-826), met the primary endpoint in a pivotal phase III trial in male androgenetic alopecia, and the company will soon file an NDA with China’s National Medical Products Administration.
Gilead pens dual-purpose $2B Ouro M&A deal with Galapagos
Gilead Sciences Inc. said after U.S. market close March 23 that it will acquire privately held Ouro Medicines LLC and its autoimmune BCMA/CD3 bispecific T-cell engager, gamgertamig, in a deal valued at $2.17 billion.

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Analysis and data insight

Biopharma deal value jumps 60% to start 2026
Deals and M&A
Biopharma deal value reached $61.17 billion in the first two months of 2026, roughly a 60% increase from the $38.11 billion logged in the same period of 2025 and marking the strongest early year total in BioWorld’s records. The surge was driven by unusually strong activity in both months, with...
Latest benchmark shows 35% decline in antibiotics pipeline in past 5 years
Infection
Twelve years on from the World Health Organization formally raising the alarm, antimicrobial resistance continues to grow, and despite numerous public and private incentives and initiatives, the pipeline of antibiotics in development is thinner than ever.
Wave of deals lifts large-cap biopharma stocks
The BioWorld Biopharmaceutical Index finished 2025 up 24.07%, building slightly on its 23% gain recorded at the end of November. While the increase trailed the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index’s 32.4% rise for the year, it outperformed the broader Dow Jones Industrial Average, which advanced 12.97%.
China tops US in January drug approvals
Regulatory
U.S. FDA approvals began 2026 at a slower pace than usual, with eight approvals recorded in January.

Financings

Kanaph’s $27M IPO to aid multi-modality cancer, immune portfolio
Cancer
Multi-modality platform company Kanaph Therapeutics Inc. raised ₩40 billion (US$26.7 million) through its Kosdaq stock sale March 16, becoming the first Korean biotech to go public this year. The Seoul-based company’s shares (KOSDAQ:0082N0) climbed to ₩70,000 in intraday trading before closing at...

Australia

Australia publishes first clinical practice guideline for psychedelics
Clinical
Australia has released the first clinical practice guideline for the appropriate use of methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, but clinicians caution that evidence, infrastructure and access remain works in progress.

Mixed phase II results still point to path forward for AISA-021
Clinical
Although Aisa Pharma Inc’s cilnidipine (AISA-021) failed to meet the primary endpoint, multiple secondary endpoints showed statistically significant improvement in treating sclerosis-associated Raynaud's phenomenon, potentially positioning the drug for a phase III program in a disease with no...
Telix advances PSMA radiotherapy challenger to Pluvicto
Clinical
Australia’s Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is advancing a potential challenger to Novartis plc’s dominant prostate cancer radioligand therapy, Pluvicto (lutetium [177Lu] vipivotide tetraxetan), after reporting that the safety lead-in portion of its global phase III Prostact trial met its primary...

China

China’s Qyuns moves IL-17 biologic toward first approval
Regulatory
Qyuns Therapeutics Co. Ltd. has moved closer to its first commercial product after China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) accepted its NDA for IL-17 antibody crusekitug (QX-002N) for treating ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the spine and...
China approves first noninvasive therapy for cervical precancer
Medical technology
China’s National Medical Products Administration has approved Asieris Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.’s cold light photodynamic drug-device combination product, Cevira (APL-1702, hexaminolevulinate hydrochloride), which is used as a nonsurgical therapy for treating patients with cervical intraepithelial...
Systimmune’s iza-bren hits phase III breast cancer goals in China
Clinical
In a boon for licensee Bristol Myers Squibb Co., Systimmune Inc.’s next-generation cancer drug, izalontamab brengitecan (iza-bren), hit both progression-free survival and overall survival endpoints in a phase III trial of Chinese patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer.
US taking a closer look at China biotech subsidies
Regulatory
U.S. scrutiny of China’s trade practices, especially in the biotech sector, continues to escalate as the U.S. International Trade Commission launches two factfinding investigations Congress mandated in the fiscal 2026 appropriations.
Jiuyuan seeks approval of Wegovy biosimilar in China
Regulatory
China’s National Medical Products Administration has accepted for review Jiuyuan Genetic Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s drug application for Jikeqin, a biosimilar product to Novo Nordisk A/S’s Wegovy (semaglutide) for obesity.

Regulatory

Hightide wins China NDA acceptance for oral metabolic therapy
Endocrine/metabolic
China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has accepted for review Hightide Therapeutics Inc.’s NDA for HTD-1801 for type 2 diabetes, marking the Shenzhen-based company’s first NDA submission and a major step toward commercialization.

Newco news

Harbour Biomed spins out newco in $1.2B CTLA-4 deal
Deals and M&A
Harbour Biomed is spinning out newco Solstice Oncology and is outlicensing its CTLA-4 antibody, porustobart (HBM-4003), to the newco in a cash and equity deal worth more than $1.2 billion.

AI meets antibody design: Galux draws $29M series B for drug R&D
Financings
Galux closed a ₩42 billion (US$29 million) series B round Feb. 10, led by Yuanta Investment to bring AI-driven “rational design” to the protein drug development process, already heavily influenced by human engineering.
Vibrant aims to tame EGFR tumors with masked TCEs
Cancer
After raising $61 million in a series B round, Vibrant Therapeutics Inc. is gearing up to begin a U.S. phase I trial with its lead program, VIB-305, a masked T-cell engager (TCE) for treating EGFR-positive solid tumors.

Science

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.
Romidepsin offers hope for high-risk neuroblastoma
Cancer
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...
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...

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