Transactions involving Biocon/Zentiva, CrystalGenomics/PanGen, Umoja/IASO, Marinus/Tenacia, Ono/Captor and Daewoong/HitGen plus deals in brief.

Ildong has become the latest Korean pharma firm to start developing an oral COVID-19 drug in the country, potentially competing with Merck and Pfizer’s candidates which are now under approval review locally. The latest co-development deal is also set to expand the market prospects for the antiviral's Japanese originator.

Analysts see Hanmi’s clinical-stage asset as fitting well into Aptose's pipeline and providing potential combination therapy benefits for hematological malignancies.

South Korean pharma and biotech companies are opting to spin off certain businesses and set up new subsidiaries to speed up R&D progress and tap funding opportunities. The move, which has become more visible in the past few years is in line with global biopharma trends, although the reasons may vary.