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Deals and Financings

InvoX Pharma, a Sino Biopharma (1177.HK) subsidiary, will pay $161 million to acquire F-Star (FSTX), a Cambridge, UK clinical stage company developing bispecific drugs for immunotherapies (see story). F-star’s platform technology pioneers the use of tetravalent (2+2) bispecific antibodies.

These antibodies target two different antigens and are paired with a unique set of pharmacology agents to activate an immune reaction in the tumor microenvironment. F-Star has four candidates in clinical trials, three from its tetravalent platform and one next-gen STING agonist. InvoX, located in the UK, is responsible for Sino Biopharma’s R&D and business development outside of China. 

In May, Reistone Biopharma of Shanghai, completed a Series A financing of nearly $100 million (see story). Reistone was formed in 2018 and incubated by Jiangsu Hengrui Pharma (600276.SS) with the goal of bringing Hengrui’s China-developed inflammatory disease drugs to global markets.

Reistone’s lead product is a JKA1 inhibitor in Phase III trial for atopic dermatitis and other immune disorders. Also in May, Hengrui launched another in-house global company, Luzsana Biotechnology, to bring its novel and affordable medications to global markets. Reistone’s A round was led by Huagai Capital and Capital Fund. 

AxBio (Anxuyuan), a Shenzhen-Silicon Valley sequencing company, raised nearly $100 million in a Series B financing for its low-cost, miniaturized, and high precision sequencing devices (see story). The company’s devices are based on single-molecule sequencing technology.

Founded in 2016, AxBio believes it can reduce sequencing costs by two orders of magnitude. It will use the capital to optimize its technology, and it will complete construction of a Shenzhen manufacturing facility. Trial production will begin later this year. The B round was led by AstraZeneca CICC Medical Industry Fund and Yunfeng Fund. 

Xuanzhu Biopharm of Shandong out-licensed China rights for two anti-infectives to Shanghai SPH New Asia Pharma in a $66 million agreement (see story). New Asia will have rights to manufacture and sell Benapenem and Plazomicin in Greater China.

Benapenem is a class 1.1 carbapenem antibiotic developed by Xuanzhu. Plazomicin is a next-gen semi-synthetic aminoglycoside antibiotic acquired by Xuanzhu from Achaogen, a US company. Xuanzhu is a non-wholly owned subsidiary of Sihuan Pharma (0460.HK), and New Asia, one of China’s largest antibiotic makers, is a non-wholly owned subsidiary of Shanghai Pharma.

Therorna, a Beijing biotech company developing novel vaccines and therapies based on circular RNA (circRNA) technology, closed a $42 million Series A financing round (see story). Founded in 2021, the company uses its technology to create novel prophylactic and therapeutic drugs, including a broad-spectrum circRNA vaccine for COVID-19.

Earlier this year, Professor Wensheng Wei, the scientific founder of Therorna, together with his team, published promising preclinical data on a COVID-19 circRNA vaccine in the journal Cell. The A round was co-led by a well-known industrial investment firm and MSA Capital.

Shanghai Genor Biopharma (6998.HK) teamed up with Suzhou Abogen Biosciences to develop novel mRNA drugs for oncology indications, merging its biological antibody development platform with Abogen’s mRNA platform (see story). Genor has expertise in identifying bi-specific/multi-specific antibodies for immunoncology.

Abogen, which was already an mRNA company before COVID-19, adapted its technology to develop a mRNA vaccine for the pandemic. Based on the global interest in COVID-19 vaccines, it raised $700 million in a C round one year ago to conduct Phase III trials. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. 

Company News

AstraZeneca (AZN) will set up its sixth China regional headquarters in Qingdao, a port city in eastern Shandong province, forming a rare disease innovation center, a life science innovation park, and an industry fund (see story). The company will also construct a manufacturing facility for Breztri, an aerosol therapy for COPD at the site.

AstraZeneca’s budesonide/glycopyrronium/formoterol fumarate COPD therapy was approved for China use in 2020 and added to China’s national medical insurance list last year. The company did not disclose any financial data for the expansion. 

Trials and Approvals

OcuMension Therapeutics (1477.HK), a Shanghai ophthalmology company, was approved to launch Yutiq® (fluocinolone acetonide intravitreal implant) 0.18 mg to treat chronic non-infectious uveitis in the posterior segment of the eye (see story). It is the first of OcuMension’s ophthalmology pipeline to be approved.

OcuMension makes the point that Yutiq was tested in a “real world” study – not a clinical trial -- in China’s Boao Lecheng Pilot Zone, which allows administration of drugs that haven’t been approved by China’s NMPA. In 2020, OcuMension acquired China rights to Yutiq from EyePoint Pharma of Boston. 

Beijing InnoCare (9969.HK) dosed the first patient in a China clinical trial of its novel SHP2 allosteric inhibitor in patients with solid tumors (see story). SHP2 (Src Homology 2 domain containing protein tyrosine phosphatase) is involved in mediating the MAPK signaling pathway and immune checkpoint pathway, regulating cellular proliferation, and survival.

In preclinical studies, the candidate, ICP-189, showed better selectivity than other phosphatases and produced significant anti-tumor effects in various xenograft models, according to InnoCare. Founded in 2015, InnoCare is developing novel drugs for cancer and autoimmune diseases.