News and Trends 20 Jul 2023 Endometrial cancer drug receives breakthrough therapy designation in China HUTCHMED (China) Limited has announced that the Center for Drug Evaluation of China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) to the combination of fruquintinib and sintilimab (a PD-1 antibody) for the treatment of patients with advanced endometrial cancer with pMMR tumors that have failed at least one line of platinum-based […] July 20, 2023 - 4 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 19 Jul 2023 Genetic engineering giants: is China poised to lead the way? For many people, when they hear China and genetic engineering in the same sentence, it is often synonymous with scandal, and gene-edited babies may spring to mind. And, although it is true that nearly five years ago, researcher He Jiankui infamously claimed he had created the first ever gene-edited babies, before going to prison for […] July 19, 2023 - 7 minutesmins - By Willow Shah-Neville Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 5 Jul 2023 Narcolepsy drug gets Chinese approval RareStone Group, a rare disease-focused company aiming to establish the first rare disease ecosystem in China, has announced that the Chinese National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has approved pitolisant (Wakix) for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) or cataplexy in adult patients with narcolepsy. In China, pitolisant is the first approved innovative drug for […] July 5, 2023 - 3 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 4 Jul 2023 Innovent and IASO Bio obtain approval for CAR-T multiple myeloma treatment Innovent Biologics, Inc. and IASO Biotechnology have announced that China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has approved the New Drug Application (NDA) for FUCASO (Equecabtagene Autoleucel). FUCASO is the first fully-human BCMA-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) who have received at least three prior […] July 4, 2023 - 4 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 23 Jun 2023 Breakthrough treatment for skin infections? A research team led by Kelvin Yeung from the Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, School of Clinical Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) has designed a new microneedle patch that provides an effective non-antibiotic approach for the treatment of skin infections. The design engineered with ultrasound-responsive zinc-based metal-organic framework (MOF) […] June 23, 2023 - 3 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 20 Jun 2023 Clearance for anti-tumor bispecific antibody trial TG ImmunoPharma Co., Ltd. (TGI), which focuses on the development of novel immuno-oncology therapies, says the FDA has granted clearance for the clinical trial of TGI-6, its bispecific antibody. TGI-6 targets unique tumor-associated antigens (TAA) and CD3 molecules simultaneously, enabling potent anti-tumor responses. TGI said the antibody demonstrates exceptional anti-tumor activity, favorable safety profiles, and […] June 20, 2023 - 2 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 23 May 2023 HuidaGene Therapeutics creates world’s first ‘G to Y’ DNA base-editor HuidaGene Therapeutics, a clinical-stage genome-editing company, says the National Science Review has published data from its study of the world’s first DNA base editor converting guanine to cytosine/thymine (pyrimidine), or G-to-Y. The company has filed an international patent application for the glycosylase-based guanine base editor (gGBE) and owns the exclusive global rights to the underlying […] May 23, 2023 - 3 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 16 May 2023 Researchers’ mutation discovery offers new Alzheimer’s hope Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting tens of millions of people worldwide, and it is the most common cause of dementia. Early-onset AD is typically associated with mutations in the genes APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2, leading to a more aggressive form of the disease with atypical symptoms. In contrast, the newly discovered […] May 16, 2023 - 3 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 9 May 2023 Researchers overcome stem cell delivery issues A recent study explains how researchers have devised a new method for delivering particles into stem cells, which are difficult to penetrate. The discovery will make it easier to direct and enhance the processes involved in regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine takes advantage of the fact that our body’s stem cells can change into many other […] May 9, 2023 - 5 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 20 Apr 2023 Hasten raises $315M for acquisitions and pipeline development CBC Group, Asia’s largest healthcare-dedicated investment firm headquartered in Singapore, and Hasten Biopharmaceutic Company Limited, have completed a $315 million fundraising round for Hasten. Hasten is a Chinese biopharma company backed by CBC, Hefei Industry Investment Group, and Feidong County of Hefei City. The fundraising round was co-led by CBC and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth […] April 20, 2023 - 2 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 4 Apr 2023 BioNTech adds antibody-drug conjugates to cancer portfolio with potential $1.5B partnership deal BioNTech SE and Duality Biologics (Suzhou) Co. Ltd. have entered into exclusive license and collaboration agreements for two antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) assets to develop, manufacture and commercialize the two assets globally, excluding mainland China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macau Special Administrative Region. With this collaboration, ADCs will become an additional drug class in […] April 4, 2023 - 3 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 31 Mar 2023 Ablaze Pharmaceuticals to develop first-in-class therapy for liver cancer in China Ablaze Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company focused on developing targeted radiotherapy (TRT) to benefit cancer patients in China, is developing plans for a first-in-class novel peptide drug candidate against GPC3. The proprietary GPC3-targeting peptide is being licensed from RayzeBio. Upon in-license of product candidates by Ablaze from RayzeBio, Ablaze will be responsible for clinical development and […] March 31, 2023 - 2 minutesmins - By Jim Cornall Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email