Deals and Financings

Cathay Fortune International, a Shanghai healthcare private equity firm, will acquire Berlin's Epigenomics AG (Xetra: ECX; OTCQX: EPGNY) for $186 million in cash (see story). Epigenomics makes a blood plasma test that detects colorectal cancer. The Epi proColon diagnostic is marketed in the EU, the US and China. BioChain, a US company that is the largest shareholder of Epigenomics, owns China marketing rights to Epi proColon. Cathay will acquire Epigenomics through a subsidiary, Blitz F16-83. 

Singapore's Aslan Pharma officially announced it will conduct an IPO on the Taiwan exchange in May with trading beginning in June (see story). The company will offer 10% of its shares to raise an expected $40 million, a valuation of $400 million. Aslan has raised over $100 million in venture capital and recorded paid-in capital of $36.5 million. Its website lists three drug candidates in clinical trials (one each in Phase I, II and III), two more in preclinical development, and a sixth in discovery. Aslan focuses on immunotherapies and targeted agents for tumors that are prevalent in Asia. 

EpimAb Biotherapeutics, a Shanghai bispecific antibody company, closed a $25 million Series A round, led by Suzhou's Oriza Seed Capital (see story). Founded in 2015, EpimAb developed its novel FIT-Ig® (Fabs-In-Tandem Immunoglobulin) platform, which generates bispecific molecules with antibody-like properties. EpimAb believes its molecules will prove to be more potent, less immunogenic and easier to manufacture than the competition. EpimAb, which is building a pipeline of immuno-oncology candidates, expects to start its first clinical trial in 2018. 

Shanghai's Zai Lab acquired Greater China rights to omadacycline, an antibiotic for drug-resistant infections, from Paratek Pharma (NSDQ: PRTK) of Boston (see story). Zai will make a $7.5 million upfront payment plus pay development, regulatory and commercial milestones and royalties. The antibiotic is Zai Lab's eighth in-licensed product: the company is developing four cancer candidates, two anti-inflammatory products, a treatment for eczema and now an antibiotic. Zai also recently partnered with GE Healthcare to build a biomanufacturing plant in Suzhou. 

HitGen of Chengdu announced its fourth collaboration in three months: it will work with The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and its affiliate, the California Institute for Biomedical Research (Calibr), to discover and develop new small molecule drug candidates (see story). Initially, the collaboration will target unmet needs in oncology, regenerative medicine and virology. Since February, HitGen has announced collaborations with Cancer Research UK, Merck/MSD (NYSE: MRK) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE). The technology behind HitGen's DNA encoded libraries was originally conceived at TSRI.

Denovo Biopharma, a San Diego-Hangzhou company, acquired a global license to liafensine, a potential treatment for major depressive disorder, from Albany Molecular Research (NSDQ: AMRI) (see story). Denovo will use its biomarker technology in a retrospective genomics study to identify a subset of patients in which liafensine works best. Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), which had in-licensed the drug, abandoned its development of the drug because it equaled, but did not outperform Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) Cymbalta. Liafensine is a serotonin-norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor. 

Digital China Holdings (HK: 00861; TW: 910861) started the China Healthcare Big Data Development Co. in conjunction with China ministries and state-owned enterprises (see story). Digital China, which was spun out from Legend Holdings in 2001, is the largest integrated IT service provider in China. CHBDDC will aim at digitizing everything about healthcare -- delivery, drugs, disease -- with the goal of making breakthroughs and working to make healthcare more efficient in China. As part of the effort, it will build a business park for healthcare companies. 

Congenica, a Cambridge, UK company that offers clinical genomics interpretation software for inherited diseases, completed a Series B funding from two China-based investors -- BGI Genomics and Healthlink Capital -- along with Future Planet Capital (see story). BGI Genomics and Healthlink also signed up to use Congenica’s enterprise software, Sapientia™, in their China clinical diagnostic labs. Financial details were not disclosed, but Congenica did announce an earlier $10 million closing of its Series B round with other investors in February. 

Trials and Approvals

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) reported the CFDA approved its direct-acting, all oral, interferon-free hepatitis C regimen (see story). The approval follows a Phase III trial that showed Daklinza (daclatasvir) and Sunvepra (asunaprevir) successfully cleared HCV in 91% of patients with type 1b HCV genotype after 24 weeks of treatment. It is the first non-interferon treatment approved in China. In addition, Daklinza was approved in combination with other agents for adults with HCV genotypes 1-6. 

Aslan Pharma of Singapore will start a global Phase III trial of its lead drug candidate, varlitinib, in patients with biliary tract cancer (see story). The US FDA recently approved Aslan’s Investigational New Drug application for the drug, a small molecule pan-HER inhibitor. The two-arm trial, which will enroll 120 patients at 60 sites around the world, will be led by Milind Javle, MD, an expert in biliary tract cancer from Houston's MD Anderson Cancer Center. No treatments for biliary tract cancer are currently approved.

Disclosure: none.