A busy stretch of deal-making across Asia all includes transactions involving Innovent, Alector, Ono, Numab, Alphamab, 3DMed, Healios, Athersys, Laekna, Novartis, Asahi Kasei, SBI Biotech, Glenmark, Hindustan Unilever, Hanlim, Alteogen, Ildong, Evotec, AJU Pharm, Ribomec, Tyligand, Context

Deals involving Hoth/Voltron, Vir/Xencor, Akers/Premas, WPD/CNS address coronavirus outbreak. Separately, Roche and Forge hope to develop a novel antibiotic for Gram-negative infections using the LpxC enzyme.

Astellas of Japan and Cytomx of the US will deploy the latter’s Probody bispecific technology to design therapeutics that remain inactive until triggered by proteases in the tumor microenvironment, so that they bind selectively to tumors and leave healthy tissue alone.  

German anti-infectives firm AiCuris partners to develop new class of Artilysin antimicrobials that rapidly burst bacterial cells and could have an improved resistance profile.