Deals and Financings

Roche (RHHBY) will acquire GeneWEAVE BioSciences, a Los Gatos, CA diagnostics company, for $425 million (see story). Roche will pay $190 million up front and up to $235 million in milestones. GeneWEAVE’s Smarticles technology develops innovative molecular diagnostics that identify multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) along with their susceptibility to specific antibiotics, without requiring additional enrichment. Decheng Capital, a Shanghai healthcare investment firm, is the lead investor and largest shareholder in GeneWEAVE. 

WuXi PharmaTech (WX), China's largest CRO/CMO, formally accepted the $3.3 billion ($46 per ADS) merger offer that will take the company private (see story). WuXi expects the merger, which must still be voted on by shareholders, to close in Q4. The investors backing the offer include Ally Bridge Group, Boyu Capital, Temasek Life Sciences, Ping An Insurance and Hillhouse Fund. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and Ping An Bank will lead a syndicate to raise $1.1 billion in debt financing. 

Ascentage Pharma, an innovative small-molecule oncology pharma headquartered in Shanghai, closed a $15.5 million Round A financing led by Oriza Capital and YuanMing Capital (see story). Ascentage has seven drug programs aimed at six drug targets, three of them clinical-stage. In 2009, Ascentage took over US-based Ascenta's Shanghai pre-clinical labs and acquired China rights to Ascenta's drugs. Since then, it has built an API plant in Taizhou Medical City with a $10 million China government grant. 

FortuneRock (China) Co., a Beijing clinical-stage biotech, has been approved to IPO and list its shares on China's Third Board, the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) (see story). Details of the offering have not been disclosed. FortuneRock develops novel, patent-protected recombinant protein drugs. Its lead drug, currently in a late Phase II trial, is a long-acting treatment to prevent low white blood cell count in chemotherapy patients. 

Trials and Approvals

Hua Medicine of Shanghai reported that its lead program, HMS5552, a novel oral glucokinase activator (GKA) treatment for Type 2 diabetes, produced a surprising 1% HbA1c average reduction in patients' blood glucose levels after only 4 weeks of treatment (see story). The positive data were part of a China Phase Ic trial. Hua said the drug candidate also showed an excellent tolerability and safety profile with low risk of hypoglycemia or gastrointestinal discomfort. Hua has already begun a China Phase II trial of the drug. 

ASLAN Pharma of Singapore received US Orphan Drug Designation for ASLAN001 (varlitinib), a pan-HER inhibitor, as a treatment for cholangiocarcinoma (see story). The disease is a rare, aggressive form of bile duct cancer that has no cure; its incidence in China is ten times that of the west. Last month, ASLAN said one cholangiocarcinoma patient in a Phase II trial of ASLAN001 experienced an 87% shrinkage of his tumor. With Orphan Drug Designation, ASLAN001 will have a longer exclusivity period in the US.

WuXi PharmaTech (WX), China's largest CRO, and TruTag Technologies of Hawaii reported that they have successfully completed a test of TruTag's nanotechnology silica security technology in solid dose drugs (see story). The technology, which is both inert and edible, allows a digital scan to confirm the drug's authenticity. It can also disclose the drug's manufacturing location, dosage, expiration date, supply chain data, and lot or batch number. In April 2014, WuXi's venture fund invested in TruTag.