Week In Review: Suzhou Innovent Announces $2 Billion Immunotherapy Collaboration With Roche
Deals and Financings
- Suzhou Innovent Bio formed a far-reaching R&D collaboration with Roche (RHHBY) that has a potential value of over $2 billion. Innovent will use Roche's technologies to discover and develop specific 2:1 T-cell bispecific antibodies (TCB) and universal CAR-T therapies for hematological and solid cancers. Roche will have an option to license each product for ex-China development and commercialization. If Roche exercises all of its options, it will pay $140 million for the options plus $1.96 billion in milestones if all products are successfully commercialized.
- Simcere Pharma of Nanjing has filed with the Hong Kong Exchange for an IPO that is rumored to seek $500 million. Previously, Simcere was listed in the US, but it was taken private in 2013 for $500 million by management and Hony Capital. In 2019, the company's ten generic products produced a profit of $140 million on $708 million in revenue.
- Burning Rock Biotech (BRN) of Guangzhou, a company that offers precision medicines cancer testing, completed a $223 million IPO on the NASDAQ. The company placed 13.5 million ADSs at a price of $16.50 each. The ADSs opened 50% higher, giving Burning Rock a market capitalization of $2.5 billion. It raised an additional $25 million in a private placement at the offering price.
- JW Therapeutics, a Shanghai-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, completed a $100 million Series B round financing co-led by CPE and Mirae Asset. JW is a joint venture, formed in 2016 by WuXi AppTec and Juno Therapeutics (JUNO) of Seattle, that was formed to bring Juno's immunoncology drugs to China. The company's lead product, a CAR-T therapy targeting CD19 for non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, has started Phase II trials in China.
- MabPlex International, a biologics CDMO located in Yantai, completed a $71 million Series B financing led by PE firms DT Capital Partners and Huajin Capital. The company offers contract services that range from DNA to finished drug products. In early 2019, MabPlex closed a $59 million Series A financing from SDIC Venture Fund and Shenzhen Venture Capital, two state-owned investors.
- Clover Biopharmaceuticals, a Chengdu biotech company, announced a $24 million Series B-2 add-on financing from GL Ventures. Clover completed a $43 million Series B round in November 2019. Since 2016, Clover has raised over $140 million.
- Beijing's CANbridge Pharma formed a research program with the Horae Gene Therapy Center at the UMass Medical School to conduct gene therapy research in rare genetic diseases, focusing on neuromuscular conditions. CANbridge specializes in orphan disease and targeted cancer products. In 2018, it formed a partnership with WuXi Biologics to develop drugs for rare genetic diseases.
COVID-19 Pandemic
- Sinopharm reported its SARS-CoV-2 vaccine induced high levels of neutralizing antibodies in animal tests without causing any serious adverse events. The results of the preclinical trials were reported in the journal Cell. The vaccine, developed by a Sinopharm subsidiary, Beijing Institute of Biological Products, contains an inactivated form of the virus. Sinopharm is currently conducting China Phase I/II trials of BBIBP-CorV in three dosing strengths.
- Shanghai's Junshi Biosciences dosed the first subject in a China Phase I trial of JS016, a SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody. Two months ago, Junshi formed a collaboration with the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS) to partner development of the candidate. It then out-licensed ex-China development of JS016 to Eli Lilly (LLY), which is close to starting US trials.
- Alphamab Oncology of Suzhou will partner with Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences to develop a therapeutic antibody for COVID-19 globally. Neutralizing antibodies target proteins on the surface of virus. Because these antibodies inhibit the virus' binding and entry into target cells, they work as a protection against COVID-19 and a treatment for the disease. Mixed antibodies amplify the therapeutic effect and prevent the virus from "escaping" via mutation, the partners said.
Trials and Approvals
- GeneQuantum Healthcare of Suzhou received IND approval in the US for its proprietary next-gen antibody drug conjugate asset, GQ1001. GQ1001 is a novel ADC drug candidate that is aimed at HER2-positive tumors. GQ believes the platform will manufacture high quality ADCs in any mAb facility at a speed and yield similar to equivalent mAbs.
- Suzhou Alphamab Oncology will collaborate with Sanofi (SNY) to test a combination of KN026, Alphamab's anti-HER2 bispecific mAb, together with Sanofi's Taxotere (Docetaxel) in HER2+ breast cancer. KN026 is an anti-HER2 bispecific antibody that binds two non-overlapping epitopes of HER2 and leads to a dual HER2 signal blockade. Alphamab has begun several clinical trials of the candidate in China and the US, including a combination study with Taxotere.
Disclosure: None