Deals and Financings

• Nanjing King-Friend Bio invested $95 million in Meitheal Pharma of Chicago, a generic injectables company, raising its holdings to a majority stake; 
• Shanghai Newsoara BioPharma acquired China rights to a prostate/breast cancer treatment from Zenith Epigenetics of Canada in a $78 million agreement;
• Beijing Biocytogen, a CRO that provides gene-modified animal models for biomedical research, closed a $77 million Series D funding round;
• Ascletis of Hangzhou led a second tranche of a Series E round for Sagimet that brings the financing to $25 million; Ascletis will have China rights to Sagimet's NASH candidate;
• Kangpu Bio-Pharma, a Shanghai clinical stage company, raised $14 million in a Pre-B financing for its small molecule immuno-modulating candidates; 
• PackGene Biotech, a Guangzhou-Boston company that develops viral vectors for gene therapies, completed a venture financing round from Kaitai Capital;

Company News

• CStone Pharma of Suzhou will build a 100,000 square meter facility in Suzhou Industrial Park to house R&D, pilot plant and commercial manufacturing operations;

Trials and Approvals

• Suzhou's Innovent will test a combination of its approved PD-1 drug, Tyvyt®, with Beijing Shenogen's SNG1005 in patients with advanced cancer; 
• Eureka Therapeutics began a US Phase I/II clinical trial of its liver cancer T-Cell in the US following a small proof-of-concept trial in China that showed efficacy; 
• Gilead Sciences was granted China approval for its oral once-daily novel three-in-one treatment for HIV.