With expansion a prime focus for businesses worldwide, many are looking towards rapidly establishing new regions of growth, particularly in Asia, Pacifi c Rim countries.
The latest business developments from across Asia by Heather Hobbs To appear in our next issue, send your Business and Financial News stories to
heather@intlabmate.com
This section of International Labmate will especially look at the success of both Asian and European companies with established premises or business partnerships, highlighting the opportunities that exist while realising potential for other companies to move into export markets.
Project to Develop Dual Antigen Targeting Therapies Revitope Oncology Inc and leading Chinese
biopharmaceutical company Junshi Biosciences, are collaborating on the development of precision cancer therapies that harness the body’s immune response to kill cancer cells while leaving healthy body tissues untouched.
The Birmingham spin-out will leverage its proprietary protein engineering platform with Junshi’s novel antibody components to develop fi rst-in-class dual antigen targeting cancer therapies. Revitope will receive up to $160 million per molecule in milestones and royalties on net sales of 10%. Junshi has also committed to acquire a 9.99% stake in Revitope for $10 million.
Revitope’s technology known as the T-cell engager antibody circuit (TEAC), splits antibodies into two halves which are programmed to recognise different antigens. The two halves are inactive until they encounter a cancer cell that is expressing both antigens, when they reunite and direct the body’s immune response to kill the target cell.
Targeting two antigens rather than one provides a unique ‘tumour-specifi c address’ and when the two halves of the antibody are reunited, the cell is recognised and destroyed
by T cells (white blood cells) and the immune system is primed to seek out and destroy similar cancer cells. Normal cells expressing only one or neither of the antigens will not activate a TEAC pair and treatment will therefore avoid unwanted toxicity in healthy tissues.
Under the terms of the collaboration and license agreement, the two companies will develop candidate TEAC pairs for agreed target antigens. Junshi will receive a world- wide license for the TEAC pairs and have responsibility for initial studies, clinical development, manufacturing and commercialisation.
Dr James Wilkie, CEO of University of Birmingham Enterprise commented: “Revitope was established in 2014 by Cancer Research Technologies and the University of Birmingham. Since then it has moved its centre of gravity to the US and is now collaborating with a global biopharmaceutical company. I couldn’t be more delighted to see the progress of a company created at Birmingham.”
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Licence Agreement Supports Pre-Clinical Drug Projects
Siemens Healthineers Announces Bengaluru Innovation Hub Investment
Siemens Healthineers has announced plans to invest €160 million over the next fi ve years in an innovation hub in Bengaluru, India. The innovation hub will be housed in a new state-of-the-art campus that combines the existing R&D centre and an ultra-modern medical imaging factory. To expand its digital capabilities, the company plans to add up to 1,800 digital talents in the next ten years. The investment is part of Siemens Healthineers’ strategy 2025, in which India plays an important role as a growth market for the company.
“This investment is the largest we have ever made in India. It will play a key role in taking our business to the next level by driving digitalisation and expanding our portfolio for emerging markets. The innovation hub in Bengaluru will demonstrate our commitment to advance healthcare through cutting- edge digital technologies as well as through accessible and affordable innovations driven from India,” said Elisabeth Staudinger, President Asia Pacifi c, Siemens Healthineers.
Explaining the Siemens Healthineers innovation hub concept, Peter Schardt, the company’s Chief Technology Offi cer, pointed
out that: “The innovation hub in Bengaluru is an integral part of our global network of innovation that will further accelerate our ability to develop effective solutions quickly and with a strong focus on emerging markets, especially in Asia. The Bengaluru innovation hub will assume increased responsibility for customer centric solutions to serve such markets even better. Special focus is on solutions for the digitalisation of healthcare, which is the foundation for value-based and patient-centered medicine within the region and across the globe.”
So far, Siemens Healthineers has already invested about €300 million in R&D in the country. With about 50% of all the software engineers in Siemens Healthineers, the existing R&D centre at Bengaluru plays a strategic role in developing cutting- edge software products and platforms for all three segments of the company - Imaging, Diagnostics, and Advanced Therapies.
53543pr@reply-direct.com Jesús Zurdo,
An agreement for the use of two commercial licences for Horizon’s proprietary GS knockout CHO cell line has been signed by Shanghai-based Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd, for development of pre-clinical antibody drug projects and to support its customers’ human biotherapeutic products, as well as offering the platform through its contract research services.
ERS Genomics and Fasmac Reach CRISPR/Cas9
Commercialisation Agreement for Japan ERS Genomics Ltd, which was formed to provide broad access to the foundational CRISPR/Cas9 intellectual property (IP) co-owned by Dr Emmanuelle Charpentier, has announced it has signed an agreement with Fasmac Co, Ltd of Japan. Under the terms of the non-exclusive agreement Fasmac acquires the right to use CRISPR/Cas9 technology and commercialise tools and reagents associated with it.
Established in 2001, Fasmac provides food analysis and biotechnology products and services including DNA/RNA synthesis products, DNA sequencing services, food testing services and genetic analysis reagents and kits.
“Our portfolio of Japanese companies taking license to the CRISPR/Cas9 technology is growing rapidly, and we are very
pleased to be working with Fasmac,” said Eric Rhodes, CEO of ERS Genomics. “We look forward to watching the company as it grows in this space and provides a valuable contribution to the genome editing fi eld.”
Dr Satoshi Futo, CEO of Fasmac commented: “Having access to advanced technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 is very important to us, as we strive to create value for our customers both in Japan and overseas. The license from ERS will allow us to expand our already broad offering.”
Financial details of the agreement are not disclosed.
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“Sanyou is a leading biotechnology company with extensive experience in early stage drug discovery, IND fi ling and clinical trial management. The Company has established an integrated innovative antibody drug R&D laboratory and we are pleased CHOSOURCE has been selected to support its biotherapeutic pipeline and contract research services offering,” commented Jesús Zurdo, Global Head Bioproduction Business Unit, Horizon Discovery. “Horizon is committed to supporting innovative organisations of all sizes to empower biotherapeutic production using our expression platform. We are proud to have licensed CHOSOURCE to over 80 organisations, from non-for-profi t and early stage startups to clinical stage biotechnology and large pharmaceutical companies and helped enable at least 8 biotherapeutics expressed in these cells to progress into clinical trials.”
Dr David Lang, CEO, Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., said: “Horizon’s CHOSOURCE facilitates the development of stable cell lines for the expression of antibodies and other recombinant proteins, and is recognised in the industry and by regulators for high yield manufacturing. This robust platform will be key in enabling us to generate stable cell lines for the development of antibody drugs, diagnostic products and cell therapy-related components, and allow us to provide a stronger one-stop solution to our clients with IND ready projects through our contract research services and pipeline-enriching collaborations.”
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Business
Opportunities Asia
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