Did you know?

ChinaBio® Group is a consulting and advisory firm helping life science companies and investors achieve success in China. ChinaBio works with U.S., European and APAC companies and investors seeking partnerships, acquisitions, novel technologies and funding in China.  

Learn more >>

Free Newsletter

Have the latest stories on China's life science industry delivered to your inbox daily or weekly - free!

  Email address:
   

Week in Review: Innovent and Lilly Sign $1 Billion Cancer Deal

publication date: Oct 18, 2015
 | 
author/source: Richard Daverman, PhD

Deals and Financings

Innovent Biologics of Suzhou and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) expanded their 10-year collaboration formed in March this year, granting Lilly ex-China rights to three new anti-PD-1 cancer drugs developed by Innovent (see story). Innovent will receive more than $1 billion in milestones in total from Lilly, plus potential royalties. Innovent will develop, manufacture and commercialize the drugs inside China, while Lilly will do the same outside of China. Lilly will pay sales royalties and other payments if the drugs are commercialized outside China. This is the largest biotech drug development collaboration in China to date, eclipsing last month's $795 million Hengrui/Incyte deal, and illustrates the value of innovation now coming from China. 

Hutchison China MediTech, also known as Chi-Med, filed for an initial public offering in the US that could raise as much as $100 million (see story). The company intends to list on NASDAQ under the symbol HCM. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank Securities are acting as joint bankers for the IPO. Established in 2000, Hutchison had revenue about $87.3 million in 2014, and currently has seven novel drug candidates in clinical-stage trials, three of which are partnered with AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly or Nestlé Health Science. 

Tianjin CanSino Biotechnology, a company focusing on human vaccines R&D, started construction of a $317 million manufacturing facility in the northeastern city of Tianjin to produce an Ebola vaccine (see story). The vaccine was developed jointly by the Bioengineering Institute of China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS) and Tianjin CanSino Biotechnology. One week ago, it began a Phase II clinical trial in Sierra Leone. CanSino expects to complete construction in 2017-2018. 

Phagelux, a leading anti-bacterial company based in Shanghai, announced the acquisition of the key assets of Scithera Microbial Technologies, headquartered in Wuhan China (see story). The assets include intellectual property for multiple lysins and for the rapid development of lysin solutions. Phagelux also acquired Scithera’s scientific team, who will be located in new Phagelux laboratory facilities at the Wuhan's BioLake Science Park. 

Athenex, a specialty US oncology pharmaceutical company previously named Kinex, signed an agreement with the Banan District in Chongqing to construct two separate pharmaceutical manufacturing plants on Banan sites (see story). Banan will fund the land and construction of the manufacturing plants, and Athenex will equip and operate the facilities. In addition, the agreement established a framework for a translational medicine collaboration with an existing Athenex R&D partner, the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong. 

3SBio, a China biopharma based in Shenyang, entered into an exclusive licensing deal with South Korea's Alteogen for the development, manufacturing and marketing of ALT-P7 in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau (see story). ALT-P7 is a novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting HER2 pathway for treating HER2-positive cancers. It is currently in preclinical development. Alteogen will receive upfront, milestone and royalty payments from 3SBio. 

Helius Medical (CSE: HSM; OTCQB: HSDT) of the US and A&B Company, a Hong Kong investment and development company, signed a strategic agreement for the development and commercialization of Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator (PoNSTM) Therapy in China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Singapore (see story). Helius will receive a one-time milestone payment and an additional $7 million funding commitment from A&B. A&B will purchase PoNS devices and relevant components from NHC, an affiliate of Helius, or other designated manufacturer for the licensed territories. 

QuantiHealth, a Beijing biotech services company focusing on molecular health testing and related applications, completed a $3.2 million round pre-A financing led by General Technology Venture Capital of China (see story). Using molecular detection techniques, QuantiHealth provides comprehensive health detection and monitoring services to various health agencies. The company indicated that the funds will be used for basic data collection, market expansion and R&D of micro-ecological intervention products. 

Astute Medical, an in-vitro diagnostics company based in San Diego, signed an agreement with Shanghai Fosun Long March Medicine Science, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun Pharma (SHA: 600196; HK: 02196), to distribute Astute's NephroCheck® Test on the Astute140® Meter in China (see story). The NephroCheck Test is said to be the first and only laboratory test approved by the US FDA to assess the risk of developing moderate to severe acute kidney injury (AKI) in the hospital. Fosun Pharma also invested $20 million in Astute. 

Company News

WuXi PharmaTech (NYSE: WX), China's largest CRO/CMO, launched a mobile version of OncoWuXi, an app for accessing oncology models (see story). The app is said to be the first to allow researchers to access oncology models and data from mobile platforms. With this app, WuXi says its clients can identify relevant tumor models for use in anti-tumor efficacy testing nearly anywhere, any time, and keep up-to-date on WuXi's capabilities and services in this area. The app's corresponding web-based application was launched in June. 

Disclosure: none.


 

Share this with colleagues:

 

ChinaBio® News

Greg Scott BIO-Europe Interview
Greg Scott Interviewed at BIO-Europe Spring

How to bring your China assets to China in 8 minutes


Greg Scott Mendelspod Interview
"Mr. Bio in China."
Mendelspod Interview

Multinational pharma held to a higher standard in China

Partner Event
November 2-3, 2023 | Shanghai
November 7-8, 2023 | Digital