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Deals and Financings

• Shenzhen EurekaBio closed a $40 million Series B+ funding to support the launch of its EuLV™ Lentiviral Vector Production System, a novel technology;
• Chengdu Maxvax Biotechnology raised $40 million in a Series C financing round to advance its portfolio of seven vaccines, two of which are in clinical trials;
• Hangzhou Zylox-Tonbridge entered a $15 million deal for China rights to the neurovascular device portfolio of California’s Avinger;
• Shanghai Haihe Biopharma out-licensed Japan rights for its lead drug, gumarontinib, an approved therapy for NSCLC, to Taiho Pharma of Tokyo.

Trials and Approvals

• Suzhou Innovent and AnHeart Therapeutics of Hangzhou filed a second NDA of their partnered next-gen ROS1 TKI in China for NSCLC;
• Beijing’s Akeso enrolled the first patient in a Phase III clinical trial of its PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific antibody as a first-line treatment for PD-L1 negative NSCLC;
• Nanjing TransThera was approved to begin a European Phase III trial of tinengotinib in patients with cholangiocarcinoma;
• Jinan Qilu Pharma presented data from a Phase II trial showing that its PD-1/CTLA-4 combination therapy was effective against cervical cancer.

Deals and Financings

• Mabwell, a Shanghai-San Diego biotech, sold ex-China rights for its serum iron regulator to Disc Medicine of Watertown, MA in a deal worth up to $412 million;
• Zhuhai’s Biotheus formed a multi-year collaboration with Bitterroot Bio of Palo Alto to discover novel approaches that regulate inflammation;
• Jiangsu Nhwa Pharma formed a China partnership to distribute a Teva Pharma therapy that treats two neurodegenerative and movement disorders; 
• AstraZeneca has returned most of the global rights for Roxadustat to FibroGen, though it will retain the rights for China and South Korea, where the drug is approved;

Company News 

• AstraZeneca announced that it will locate its fifth global strategic center in Shanghai, including China/Asia commercial operations and R&D; 

Trials and Approvals

• Shanghai’s CARsgen Therapeutics was approved for a China launch of its autologous BCMA CAR-T product in patients with multiple myeloma;
• Longbio Pharma (Suzhou) released results from a Phase II trial showing its lead drug was effective in patients with allergic rhinitis;
• Shanghai Everest Medicines and Kezar Life Sciences of South San Francisco will start a China Phase IIb trial of their partnered drug for lupus nephritis;
• BioCity Biopharma, a clinical-stage company located in Wuxi, has enrolled all 120 participants in the first arm of its trial of a selective ETA-receptor antagonist for chronic kidney disease;
• Suzhou Innovent Biologics dosed the first patient in an Australian Phase I trial of a global first-in-class IL-4Rα/TSLP bispecific antibody for asthma.
  
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Deals and Financings

• Shanghai AlphaGen Therapeutics and ArtBio of Cambridge MA, both radioligand therapy (RLT) companies, forged a far-reaching agreement to expand AriBio’s market and develop new RLTs;
• Biocytogen Pharma (Beijing) signed an antibody evaluation/option agreement with Gilead Sciences, granting access to Biocytogen’s fully human antibody library for three years;

Trials and Approvals

• Legend Biotech reported Europe’s CHMP recommended approval of its lead CAR-T drug, Carvykti®, as a second-line therapy for patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma;
• Nanjing Simcere Pharma announced that data from a Phase III trial of Sanbexin® sublingual tablets for acute ischemic stroke were published in an online medical journal;
• Suzhou Innovent said IBI31, a recombinant anti-insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) antibody, met its endpoint in China Phase III trial in patients with Thyroid Eye Disease;
• Jacobio Pharma was approved to start a China Phase III clinical trial of a KRAS G12C inhibitor, combined with the SHP2 inhibitor JAB-3312 as a first-line therapy for NSCLC patients with KRAS G12C mutations;
• Immunofoco will begin a US Phase I trial of an EpCAM-targeting autologous CAR-T cell product to treat EpCAM-positive advanced gastrointestinal tumors;
• Shanghai’s Mabwell was OK’d to start US clinical trials of its B7-H3 targeting ADC for advanced malignant solid tumors.
  
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Deals and Financings

• LianBio, a Princeton-Shanghai biotech formed by US biopharma investor Perceptive Advisors, will close all its operations and distribute a $4.80 dividend/share ($528 million) to its shareholders;
• Yiviva, a New York biotech, signed a memorandum of understanding with AstraZeneca China to establish an R&D collaboration at AstraZeneca’s Innovation Campus in Chengdu;

Trials and Approvals

• Tokyo’s Chugai Pharma announced China approval of crovalimab, a humanized complement inhibitor C5 mAb to treat paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, a rare disease;
• CASI Pharma of Beijing launched pralatrexate injection, a dihydrofolate reductase inhibitor aimed at relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma in China;
• AusperBio, a Hangzhou-San Francisco biopharma, reported its lead candidate, an unconjugated antisense oligonucleotide that targets all HBV RNA, is advancing in China/US clinical trials.
  
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Deals and Financings

• I-Mab will become a US company with operations in Maryland and San Diego, divesting itself of Hangzhou I-Mab, which paid $80 million for China rights to I-Mab’s drug portfolio;
• Anbogen Therapeutics, a Taipei clinical-stage prevision oncology company, raised $12.5 million in a Series A funding round, to advance its two lead drug candidates;
• Shenzhen’s China Medical System acquired Greater China rights to Velphoro®, the first non-calcium phosphate binder approved in China for chronic kidney disease;
• Japan’s Eisai expects to administer Leqembi, its Alzheimer’s drug, to 1,500 people in China by the end of March 2025;
• Bayer, a German Life Science company, signed a Letter of Intent with Trinity Bio to market a Continuous Glucose Monitoring biosensor device in China and India;

Trials and Approvals

• Jiangsu Hengrui Pharma announced a China launch for Vivjoa® in China, a novel oral azole antifungal approved to treat severe vulvovaginal candidiasis;
• Suzhou Innovent Biologics said its NDA for a GLP-1R/GCGR dual agonist has been accepted for review by China’s NMPA for chronic weight management;
• Wuhan iRegene Therapeutics started a China Phase I/II clinical trial of a novel therapy derived from iPSC stem cells for Parkinson’s Disease;
• Sirius Therapeutics began an Australian Phase I clinical trial of its next-gen siRNA candidate aimed at preventing and treating thromboembolic disorders;
• Guangzhou Fermion Technology was approved to start clinical trials of FZ007-119, a third-gen JAK inhibitor targeting TYK2 JH2 for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.
  
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