Asia
Laekna, headquartered in Shanghai, China, signed a deal with Novartis Pharma AG for exclusive worldwide rights to two oral Novartis clinical-stage cancer drugs.
Chinese biotech company Ascletis Pharma debuted on the Hong Kong stock exchange, rising as much as 6.4 percent, but ending the day where it started.
Shionogi, based in Osaka, Japan and Florham Park, New Jersey, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Mulpleta (lusutrombopag) for thrombocytopenia in adults with chronic liver disease who were about to have a medical procedure performed.
It’s hard to say if it was actually a wild ride after the release of Alzheimer’s data, but Biogen shares dropped from $383.83 to $340.84 at the news, although it appears to be rebounding slightly.
Takeda Pharmaceutical’s Alunbrig (brigatinib) hit its Phase III primary endpoints of statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival compared to crizotinib (Pfizer’s Xalkori) in a subset of lung cancer patients following the first pre-specified interim analysis.
Chinese biopharmaceutical company, Changsheng Bio-Technology, is under investigation by Chinese regulators for allegedly falsifying data for a number of products.
BeiGene is starting off the week with a bang. Late Sunday the company announced positive preliminary topline results from its Phase II trial of tislelizumab, the company’s investigational checkpoint inhibitor for relapsed/refractory classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma (R/R cHL).
Last year, Novartis’ multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya generated more than $3 billion in revenue, with a little more than half of that coming from sales in the United States. As the drug faces patent loss in the future, Novartis is fighting to preserve that revenue driver with multiple lawsuits.
The Chinese biopharma market is booming as more and more companies eye breaking into that rich market. Christophe Weber, chief executive officer of pharma giant Takeda, views its China programs as its second-biggest business behind the United States.
Fresh off its first Pipeline Day last week, Vivek Ramaswamy’s Roivant Sciences is taking aim at breaking into the Chinese market. Roivant has launched another company called Sinovant Sciences.
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