Deals and Financings

Tasly Biopharma of Shanghai filed a prospectus for a Hong Kong IPO (see story). The transaction, which has been expected for the past year, could raise as much as $1 billion. Tasly Bio is the biologics arm of Tasly Pharma (SHA: 600535), a TCM company that decided in 2001 to diversify into novel drug development. The company has one launched product, an anti-thrombolytic drug for myocardial infarction, and it is developing 12 other biologic products for cancer, metabolic, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases.

Terns Pharma, a California-Shanghai startup, acquired greater China rights to a treatment for liver disease developed by Genfit of France in an agreement worth up to $228 million (see story). Elafibranor is a dual peroxisome proliferator-activated alpha/delta (PPAR α/δ ) agonist currently in US Phase III trials. Terns will have rights to develop elafibranor to treat non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) in China. A liver disease and cancer company, Terns will make a $35 million upfront payment to Genfit, with the rest being regulatory and sales milestones.

Novena Global Lifecare, a Singapore company with 250 aesthetic clinics and sales outlets in southeast Asia, will receive an investment of up to $20 million from Sinopharm Capital and Cedarlake Capital (see story). Founded in 2010, Novena is one of the largest medical healthcare and aesthetic groups in the region. In addition, the three companies plan to raise as much as $150 million for a new Sino-Singapore Healthcare Fund. The fund will invest in southeast Asian medical services, biomedical projects, mature drugs and precision medical drugs.

Eddingpharm in-licensed greater China rights to a treatment for thrombocytopenia, a side-effect of liver disease, from Shionogi of Japan (see story). People with thrombocytopenia suffer from a low platelet count and are usually treated with via blood transfusions to aid blood clotting. Lusutrombopag is a thrombopoietin receptor agonist, marketed in Japan as Mulpleta®, that induces the production of platelets. Eddingpharm noted that China has a chronic shortage of blood for transfusions.

China Medical System (HK: 0867) of Shenzhen in-licensed greater China rights for two prescription drugs from India's Sun Pharma (NSE: SUNPHARMA, BSE: 524715), a treatment for dry eye and a biologic treatment for psoriasis (see story). The two patented drugs will be the first Sun Pharma products available in China. CMS will make an upfront payment to Sun Pharma, plus pay regulatory/sales milestones and royalties on sales. Further details are confidential. CMS, which will be responsible for China regulatory approvals of the products, will have rights to the products for 15 years.

Two clinical stage CROs, dMed Biopharma of Shanghai and New York City's Target Health, teamed up to provide China-US clinical trial services (see story). They will offer internationalized clinical trials that meet global standards to China and US companies, speeding up approvals in the world's two largest drug and device markets. The tie-up also allows Western life science companies to access China's large supplies of treatment-naive patients. Last week, dMed announced a new Washington office to help China companies make regulatory filings to the US FDA.

ChosenMed Technology, a Beijing medical sequencing company, formed a strategic cooperation with Iowa's Integrated DNA Technologies to develop pan-cancer diagnostic panels as part of the Cancer Genome Atlas of China (CGAC) project (see story) The project's major goal is to standardize cancer diagnoses in China. It is also using cancer sequencing to develop personalized medicine and transformative healthcare in China. IDT will provide NGS enrichment products to ChosenMed along with its scientific research and development capabilities.

Trials and Approvals

Yisheng Biopharma of Beijing was cleared to start China trials of its PIKA-based immunotherapy to treat solid tumors (see story). YS-ON-001 is a first-in-class immunomodulating product designed to promote both innate and adaptive immune responses through the TLR3, RIG-I and MDA5 pathways. The US FDA has granted US Orphan Drug Designation to YS-ON-001 for pancreatic cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. The PIKA technology is already being tested in two other Yisheng candidates: vaccines for hepatitis B and rabies. Currently in a China Phase III trial, the rabies vaccine is Yisheng's lead product.

XW Labs of Wuhan received US Orphan Drug Designation status for its lead molecule, a clinical-stage treatment for narcolepsy . XW develops novel small molecule therapeutics for CNS disorders (see story). Narcolepsy, an orphan disease that affects 1 in 2,000 people, is caused by a loss of hypocretin neuronal cells, leading to abnormal regulation of the sleep-wake cycle. XWL-008 is aimed at treating the two major symptoms of narcolepsy, excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy, with fewer side effects than current medications. XW is planning to start a Phase III trial of XWL-008.

MicroPort Orthopedics (HK: 0853), a US division of Shanghai's medical device maker, MicroPort Scientific, launched the Evolution® NitrX™ Medial-Pivot Knee System, the latest version of its knee replacement product (see story). The newest NitrX™ product features a titanium niobium nitride (TiNbN) coating that has been shown to reduce the release of trace metals. Clinicians say the new product speeds patient recovery. In 2014, MicroPort acquired US-based Wright Medical's joint replacement business and says it is now the world's fourth-largest multinational orthopedics company.

Company News

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) announced the opening of its life science incubator, JLABS @ Shanghai, the world's largest JLABS and the first in Asia Pacific (see story). The facility has room for over 50 pharmaceutical, medical device, consumer and health tech companies. It has already signed up with 31 resident companies, including the three awardees of the Lung Cancer Innovation QuickFire Challenge. The 4,400-square-meter facility, located in Shanghai's Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, is a collaboration with Shanghai Pharma Engine. JLABS was developed by J&J Innovation, a Division of Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment.

Disclosure: none.