Deals and Financings
• Frontage Holdings, a US-China CRO, raised $205 million in a Hong Kong IPO at an $820 million valuation and moved 4.5% higher in its first trading session;
• EpimAb Biotherapeutics, a Shanghai bi-specifics company focused on cancer and immunotherapies, closed a $74 million Series B financing;
• Chengdu's HitGen announced a drug discovery collaboration with Gilead Sciences to identify small molecule leads against targets specified by Gilead;
Industry Insights
• In its first year, the Hong Kong Exchange hosted ten biopharmas IPOs and raised over $4.2 billion, though the future of Hong Kong as a bridge between east and west is clouded at the moment;
Government and Regulatory
• China announced plans to audit 77 major pharmaceutical companies after Kangmei, a TCM company, reported a $4.4 billion cash shortfall;
Trials and Approvals
• BioMarin of San Francisco reported China approved Vimizim® to treat patients with a rare disease known as Morquio A syndrome;
• Suzhou Innovent Biologics released Phase III data showing its Avastin® biosimilar matched the original drug in safety and efficacy;
• Suzhou CStone Pharma was approved to start China trials of its anti-PD-L1 candidate in combination with a FGFR4 inhibitor in liver cancer patients;
• RemeGen, a Yantai biotech, sajd its HER2 antibody-drug conjugate produced a 51% objective response rate in a Phase II trial of patients with urothelial cancer;
• Xynomic Pharma, a Raleigh-Shanghai oncology company, dosed the first patient in a Phase I/II trial that combines its lead drug, abexinostat, with Imbruvica;
• Ascentage Pharma of Shanghai announced positive clinical trial data from two apoptosis-targeted drug candidates;
• Suzhou Innovent Biologics released positive data from four trials in new indications of its China-approved anti-PD-1 antibody, Tyvyt.
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