Deals and Financings

• VectorBuilder, a CDMO based in Chicago, announced plans to build a $500 million gene therapy delivery manufacturing and research campus in Guangzhou;
• Shanghai Ji Xing Pharma in-licensed Greater China rights for two eye-drop far-sightedness therapies from San Diego’s Lenz Therapeutics in a $110 million pact;
• AnPac Bio-Medical, a Shanghai-Philadelphia company focused on early cancer screening and detection, raised $15 million from Hunan Weitou Technology;

Trials and Approvals

• Germany’s Bayer announced China approval of larotrectinib, a precision medicine for solid tumors with NTRK gene fusions;
• Beijing’s BeiGene reported that its PD-1 antibody was approved for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, its eighth China approved indication;
• BeiGene also announced its BTK inhibitor showed a better overall response rate than ibrutinib in a Phase III trial for leukemia;
• Shanghai AffaMed and VistaGen of South San Francisco filed an IND to conduct a China Phase III trial of a nasal spray therapy for acute social anxiety disorder;
• InventisBio of Shanghai reported promising early data from two trials of its oral KRAS G12C inhibitor in advanced or metastatic solid tumors with KRAS G12C mutations;
• Shanghai Junshi Bio was granted US Orphan Drug Designation for toripalimab, its PD-1 inhibitor, to treat small cell lung cancer;
• Suzhou CStone Pharma released preclinical data on a tri-specific antibody-based molecule that targets PD-L1, 4-1BB and human serum albumin.

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