Deals and Financings
• NJCTTQ of Nanjing agreed to pay US-based Abpro up to $4 billion for China rights to bi-specific immunotherapies; NJCTTQ will make a $60 million near-term payment to underwrite R&D expenses;
• Suzhou CStone Pharma climbed higher after raising $285 million in an Hong Kong IPO that valued the 2.5 year old oncology company at $1.5 billion;
• Gracell Bio, a Suzhou immune cell gene therapy company, completed an $85 million series B funding to simplify the manufacture and lower the cost of cellular gene therapeutics;
• Aslan Pharma of Singapore out-licensed South Korean rights for its bile-duct oncology candidate to South Korea's BioGenetics in a $13 million deal;
• Beijing Surgerii Technology completed a Series A financing of "millions of RMB" to develop its third-gen robotic surgery medical device;
Trials and Approvals
• Shanghai Henlius Biotech's biosimilar to Roche's Rituxan was approved by China’s NMPA, the first biosimilar approved in China;
• Innovent Biologics of Suzhou dosed the first patient in a China Phase II/III trial that pairs Innovent's approved anti-PD-1 mAb with its Avastin biosimilar;
• Xynomic Pharma, a US-Shanghai in-licensing company, began dosing South Korean patients in as global Phase III trial of its novel HDAC inhibitor;
Government and Regulatory
• China proposed strengthened regulations for initial clinical trial approvals of high-risk cell and molecular therapies, establishing fines and criminal penalties for infractions.
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