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Deals and Financings

Nanjing Triastek, a company that uses 3D printing to manufacture pharmaceuticals, will develop oral RNA therapeutics with Germany’s BioNTech (BNTX) based on its 3D printing technology (see story). Triastek will receive a $10 million upfront payment and up to $1.2 billion in milestones, plus royalties.

Triastek uses its 3D technology to improve delivery of RNA therapeutics across the gastrointestinal mucosa, minimizing premature degradation, and delivering RNA therapeutics to the gastrointestinal track areas with the greatest absorption. The collaboration aims to provide groundbreaking therapies that address unmet medical needs in an easy-to-administer oral formulation. 

San Diego’s Artiva Bio (ARTV) raised $167 million in a Nasdaq IPO to support clinical trials of its cell therapy portfolio (see story). Artiva was spun out of South Korea’s GC Cell and has global rights (ex-Asia, Australia, and New Zealand) to GC Cell’s portfolio.

The IPO was priced at $12 per share, lower than the expected $14-$16 range, but Artiva upped the number of shares in the IPO. Founded in 2019, Artiva develops natural killer (NK) cells that are developed from cord blood, making them allogeneic, unlike CAR-T therapies that are derived from a patient’s own cells. 

Tokyo’s Renalys Pharma raised $38.5 million in a Series A round to develop its lead drug, sparsentan, as a treatment for IbA nephropathy in Japan (see story). The company plans to use the funds to complete a Japanese Phase III trial of sparsentan. The A round was led by Catalys Pacific and SR One.

In January, Renalys acquired rights to sparsentan, a dual endothelin angiotensin receptor antagonist, from San Diego’s Travere Therapeutics (TVTX) in a $120 million deal with rights for Japan and other countries in Asia. Travere also received a minority stake in Renalys. 

Hangzhou Jiuyuan Genetic Engineering has filed for an IPO on the Hong Kong Exchange to develop its portfolio of biopharmaceutical products and medical devices (see story).

Founded in 1993, the company has two major products: a drug-device combination product, Guyoudao, the first product containing bone repair material with rhBMP-2 that is approved for China use, and the first semaglutide biosimilar in China to have filed an NDA. Semaglutide is a Novo Nordisk GLP-1 product known as Wegovy for weight loss and Ozempic for type 2 diabetes.

Innovent Biologics (IVBXF) announced a strategic partnership with Beijing’s WeComput to advance its AI based platform for drug development (see story). WeComput will work with Innovent Academy, the company’s division that “thinks big” about future drug development and has already developed an AI platform.

Innovent Academy will use WeComput's WeMol, a molecular design platform, to extend its computing infrastructure, accelerating R&D. WeMol will integrate NVIDIA's BioNeMo to expand the computing capacity of Innovent's AI systems and improve computational efficiency. WeComput is a subsidiary of Beijing Zhongda Weixin Technology, an IT company. Innovent is a Suzhou biopharma with additional R&D operations in Shanghai and San Francisco. 

Company News

BeiGene (BGNE) officially opened a $800 million flagship US facility that houses state-of-the-art biologics manufacturing capabilities and a clinical R&D center (see story). BeiGene, an oncology company that got its start in Beijing, now considers itself a global company with additional headquarters in Boston and Basel.

The company is proud of the fact that it conducts its own clinical trials, largely free of CROs, which it says improves speed, cost, and quality. The new facility is located in Hopewell, NJ, at the Princeton West Innovation Campus. BeiGene is developing an oncology portfolio of more than 30 molecules at clinical or commercial stage. 

Trials and approvals

South Korea’s Samsung Bioepis announced that its Soliris biosimilar, Epysqli, is approved in the US to treat paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) (see story). Samsung acquired Epysqli as part of its $39 billion takeover of Alexion in 2020.

In 2023, Soliris produced $3.15 billion in 2023 global revenues for AstraZeneca, which was 14% lower than the previous year because Soliris had gone off-patent in Europe. Samsung’s Epysqli is the lead biosimilar in Europe to replace Soliris, where it is also approved for the same two rare diseases, PNH and aHUS. 

Suzhou Innovent announced positive data from another Phase III clinical trial of mazdutide, its dual agonist for type 2 diabetes (see story). This trial showed mazdutide met its endpoint of lowering glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) at week 24 while also producing an average weight loss of 9.6% at week 48.

Innovent has already filed for mazdutide approval in China as a weight loss drug based on an earlier trial. Mazdutide combines a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) with a glucagon receptor (GCGR). Innovent acquired China rights to the candidate from its long-time US partner, Lilly (LLY).

Gan & Lee Pharma posted strong weight loss results in a China Phase IIb trial of its long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) (see story). Overweight and obese patients were treated at one of four dosing levels.

After 30 weeks, the results varied from 11.15% average weight loss in the lowest dose to 17.79% at the highest doses. Patients were treated every two weeks. Gan & Lee, a Beijing company that focuses on diabetes therapies, was the first Chinese company to develop a domestic insulin analog drug. 

Xiamen Amoytop Biotech will conduct a clinical trial of its approved HBV therapy, Pegbing, together with a clinical stage HBV therapy developed by Aligos Therapeutics (ALGS), a South San Francisco biopharma (see story).

Aligos’ ALG-000184 is a potentially best/first-in-class oral small molecule capsid assembly modulator (CAM-E) aimed at CHB. Amoytop will conduct a China Phase 1b trial that tests the efficacy and safety of ALG-000184 in combination with its own Pegbing (Mipeginterferon alfa-2b). Three months ago, the two companies entered a $109 million pact to use Aligos' platform for discovery of oligonucleotides that treat liver diseases. 

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