Focus On Asia

Even as it prepares for competition from an authorized generic, Lupin expects a launch of its generic to Boehringer’s blockbuster Spiriva in the fourth quarter of FY23. It hopes the launch will help its position in the US, where it has exited low margin products amid heightened competition, leading in turn to manufacturing job losses in India

Frontier Biotechnologies is seeking to enroll roughly 1,200 hospitalized COVID patients in an international Phase II/III clinical trial to evaluate its bofutrelvir (FB2001) in competition with Gilead’s Veklury.

Plus deals involving Shionogi/ Grünenthal, CR Biopharma/ImmVira, Elevation Oncology/CSPC, Everest Medicines/TTY Biopharm and Dr. Reddy’s/Slayback

China's largest physician portal DXY has been banned from posting on a major social media platform after naming a new zoonotic virus after the place where it originated.

Shionogi is hoping to demonstrate the efficacy of its oral COVID-19 candidate Xocova through an appropriate primary endpoint in its Phase III trial, while the Japanese firm is also eyeing global expansion for the drug should a world-first domestic approval be granted.

Strides’ biopharma arm Stelis Biopharma has moved closer to approval in the EU and likely the US too for a biosimilar to Eli Lilly’s Forteo in FY23, following GMP certification for its manufacturing units. Meanwhile, merchant bankers have been appointed to evaluate strategic options to raise cash for Stelis.

Quarterly ups and down notwithstanding, Dr Reddy’s signals continuing US launch momentum, with its generic Revlimid, for which the Indian firm claims exclusivity for two strengths, set to hit the market next month. “Low competition” assets, especially injectables, also continue to be on the deal-making radar in the US.

The main Japanese pharma players report a generally strong fiscal Q1, helped by mainstays including Daiichi Sankyo's Enhertu, Astellas's Xtandi and Padcev and Chugai's Actemra, and in some cases by the weaker yen. 

A preliminary analysis of Russian Phase III results for azvudine, China's first home-grown antiviral for COVID-19, shows it reached two primary endpoints, but a separate Chinese study produced mixed results.

Experts shared views at a recent conference in Seoul on how the Korean biopharma industry has evolved and what needs to be done to move forward in the next 10 years. Policy efficiency and family ownership in the sector came in for particular scrutiny, with some calling for sweeping changes. 

Biocon may not be able to make it to the current contracting cycle in the US for its Viatris-partnered biosimilar aspart, but all is not lost, the management indicates. The Indian firm is also buoyant about the prospects of taking its franchise of potentially interchangeable recombinant human insulin to the US.

The antibody-drug conjugate market is emerging as the next battleground for intense competition in China, with global partnerships becoming essential to win, as evidenced by a major new alliance between Innovent and Sanofi.