Tagged with biotech

Switzerland Dr Vincent Forster of Versantis, a Swiss biotech aiming to develop a new generation of liver disease therapeutics and diagnostics, introduces the company’s foundation story, proprietary technology, and future development goals.   As a start-up company, we try to work in a very lean and dynamic way with a small…

Saudi Arabia Trad Alkhelaiwi, country director for Amgen in Saudi Arabia, discusses the intricacies of the Saudi healthcare transformation including the push for a value-based healthcare system that adopts best practices from other healthcare systems, Amgen’s upcoming launch in lung cancer, its plan to invest over USD 80 million in Saudi in…

Hong Kong Three years after the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) introduced reforms to allow and support the listing of pre-profit biotech companies, it has become Asia’s largest, and the world’s second-largest, biotech fundraising hub.   According to HKEX, the exchange is home to companies seeking international exposure, proximity to China and…

Singapore IQVIA Biotech JAPAC’s Dr Senthil Sockalingam outlines the evolving needs of the flood of early-stage drug discovery ventures in Asia, how biotechs in the region differ from their counterparts in the US and Europe, and the most important digitalisation trends to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.   Almost 50 percent…

Singapore Singapore recently outlined its latest Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2025 plan, with plans to invest some USD 20 billion over the next 5 years. Here, three key stakeholders from government, academia, and industry weigh in on what Singapore’s current performance and future potential as an innovation hub, translating its…

Hong Kong With three years having passed since the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX)’s decision to allow pre-revenue biotechs to IPO, we look back at a stellar 2020 for the Exchange and what the recent appointment of a new CEO – the first foreign appointment in its history – means for the…

Singapore Since 2000, when Singapore first positioned biomedical research as the fourth pillar of the country’s economy, government funding towards innovative life sciences start-ups and spin-offs has dramatically increased. These companies have greater access to funds, both from state actors as well as via private equity and public listings, but barriers…

China Anticancer Bioscience is an exciting international precision oncology company, applying synthetic lethal approaches to develop targeted cancer therapies. President & CEO Dun Yang explains the company’s origins, how ACB’s approach differs from that of its competitors, and how he plans to make the firm into “China’s Genentech.”   We want…

Switzerland Dr Michael Bauer, a Novartis early development veteran, now serves as CEO of Basel-based Cellestia. Here, Bauer explains why Cellestia’s unique transcription factor targeting molecule potentially represents a breakthrough in cancer research, the ways in which the firm’s funding strategy has evolved, and how its future growth trajectory might look.…

Switzerland Fabian Gerber of SIX Swiss Exchange, Switzerland’s principal stock exchange, outlines the importance of life sciences companies to the exchange, representing over a third of total market capitalization with the presence of Roche, Novartis, Lonza and many others; explains why biotech companies are choosing to go public at later stages…

Switzerland Josua Jordi of Swiss biotech EraCal explains the company’s technology platform, their work with zebrafish larvae to find a biologic mechanism to control appetite, and how it compares with the new generation of obesity treatments coming from Big Pharma. Moreover, he discusses EraCal’s development strategy and the Swiss biotech ecosystem.…

China The latest news from Chinese pharma, including an overhaul of the country’s patent law; a BioNTech-Fosun tie-up on COVID-19 vaccines; and big R&D subsidies for local companies available in Shanghai.   How Hong Kong can cement its position as a biotech listing hub (SCMP) https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3134767/how-hong-kong-can-cement-its-position-biotech-listing-hub To maintain its growth and…