The company’s triple-combination studies with vebicorvir and next-generation core inhibitor programs may hold more promise in hepatitis B.

New VC deals include a $60m series C-1 round for DiCE Molecules a day before it filed paperwork to support a $100m IPO and a $100m financing for China’s IONOVA Life Science. Also, RenovoRx was the 84th company to go public in the US this year and ADC Therapeutics executed a $325m royalty deal. 

Despite a pending domestic approval for BioNTech/Fosun's COVID-19 vaccine, China’s apparent belief in another, domestically developed, mRNA vaccine sees a large group of investors pour hundreds of millions into a little-known private bioventure founded by an ex-Moderna scientist and poised to take on the US biotech.

Developers of antibodies, novel vaccines and cell and gene therapies are all slated to get funding support as Shanghai unleashes a flurry of incentives and policies to lead China’s push to become a global biopharma powerhouse.