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Deals and Financings

Suzhou Innovent Biologics (1801.HK) will develop two Sanofi cancer candidates for China use in a complicated deal with money due to each company (see story). Sanofi will initially invest $305 million in Innovent shares. The drug candidates are (1) tusamitamab ravtansine, an anti-CEACAM5 antibody-drug conjugate in Phase III trials, and (2) non-alpha IL-2 in Phase II trials (combined with Innovent’s PD-1, sintilimab).

Innovent will be responsible for China clinical development of both Sanofi candidates, but will commercialize only tusamitamab ravtansine. Sanofi will be eligible for $81 million in milestones on tusamitamab ravtansine, while Innovent will be eligible for $61 million in IL-2 milestones. 

Beijing Sironax closed a $200 million Series B financing to advance its portfolio of novel therapies for age-related degenerative diseases (see story). The company’s pipeline consists of products that address key mechanisms underlying age-related degenerative diseases, such as regulated cell death, neuroprotective pathways, and neuroinflammation.

Its lead candidate is a serine/threonine-protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) inhibitor that has started clinical trials for COVID-19 and an unspecified degenerative disease. The B round was led by Gaorong Capital and Yunfeng Capital. Sironax has now raised $300 million. 

OriCell Therapeutics (Shanghai) closed a $120 million Series B financing for its cell therapy and bispecific immunotherapy pipeline (see story). The company also plans to build a clinical/commercial manufacturing plant. OriCell has two CAR-T candidates that are close to clinical stage, one for advanced liver cancer and the other for multiple myeloma.

It is also developing a PD-L/4-1BB bispecific antibody that it partnered with Antengene. OriCell’s financing was led by Qiming Venture Partners and Quan Capital and joined by other investors, including C&D Emerging Capital, an existing shareholder. 

Ablaze Pharma, a targeted radiation therapy company, signed an agreement with the Wenjiang District Government of Chengdu to build a $100 million R&D and manufacturing center in Chengdu Medical City (see story). The source of the capital was not disclosed, though it was announced during the Conference of Major Advanced Manufacturing Projects by Foreign Direct Investment.

Ablaze has China rights to five targeted radiation therapies from San Diego’s RayzeBio, whose radiopharmaceuticals deliver radioisotopes to tumors via the bloodstream. The therapies consist of a small peptide binder, a linker, and a potent radioactive payload. 

Structure Therapeutics, a San Francisco-Shanghai company, completed a $33 million addition to its $100 million Series B round, announced last October (see story). Previously, Structure was known as ShouTi Inc. The company’s new name reflects its plan to build a portfolio of next-gen small molecule drugs based on structural design that overcome the limitations of biologics and peptide therapies.

Structure’s initial efforts target the GPCR cell surface family of drug targets. Its lead molecule, GSBR-1290, is an oral small molecule GLP‐1 receptor agonist aimed at type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity. 

GluBio Therapeutics, a San Diego-Shanghai company, completed a $22 million Series A+ financing to advance its early-stage portfolio of targeted protein degradation (TPD) candidates (see story). Earlier this year, the company closed a $50 million Series A round. TPD uses bifunctional chemistry to create chimeric molecules that bind to a protein and tag it for degradation.

GluBio will use the capital to move two molecular glue degraders with best-in-class potential into the clinic for hematological malignancies. The A+ round was led by Qiming Venture Partners and included Lilly Asia Ventures and Kaitai Capital. 

China’s Genuine Biotech filed to IPO on the Hong Kong Exchange (see story). Genuine, headquartered in Pingdingshan, Henan Province, develops novel drugs for viral, oncological, and cerebrovascular diseases.

The company's lead drug, azvudine, a nucleoside analog that inhibits HIV-1 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), is conditionally approved in China to treat HIV and COVID-19. One year ago, Genuine raised $100 million in a B round. The company can produce 6.8 billion azvudine tablets per year at half the cost of Pfizer’s Paxlovid. 

Australia’s Radiopharm Theranostics (RAD.AX) will collaborate with Lantheus, a Boston diagnostic company, to develop a PD-L1 nanobody that is a diagnostic and a therapy (see story). NM-01 is made using genetically engineered camelid-derived single domain antibodies, that can be labelled with low-dose radioisotopes as a diagnostic and with higher radioisotope doses to treat multiple tumor types.

Radiopharm has global rights to NM-01 as a therapy from NanoMab of the UK, which developed the therapy, and it will have China rights to the diagnostic from Lantheus. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. 

Trials and Approvals

ProfoundBio, a Suzhou-Seattle oncology biopharma, was approved to start US trials of an antibody drug candidate in patients with advanced cancers (see story). PRO1184 consists of a folate receptor alpha (FRa) directed antibody conjugated to an exatecan payload with a novel hydrophilic linker.

The Phase 1 trial will evaluate the safety, activity, and pharmacokinetics of PRO1184 in patients with ovarian, endometrial, breast, and non-small cell lung cancers, as well as mesothelioma. ProfoundBio develops novel antibody therapeutics aimed at solid tumor cancers. In 2021, Profound was formed with $58 million in capital from China investors and leadership from SeaGen veterans.

Zenas BioPharma was approved to start a China Phase I/II clinical trial of treatment for thyroid eye disease (TED) (see story). ZB001 is a mAb that targets insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R).

TED is a vison-threatening autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and fibrosis within the orbit of the eye, a condition without any approved therapies in China. TED is usually treated by high doses of steroids (which are associated with serious side effects) or surgery. With operations in Boston and Shanghai, Zenas develops immune-based therapies for patients in the US, China and globally. 

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