Dx & Vx Co., Ltd.

Flagship Pioneering’s roots in Singapore are growing less than a year after the biotech incubator first unveiled its ambitions in the Asia-Pacific. The Cambridge, MA-based investor said Wednesday evening it will jointly commit up to 100 million Singapore dollars, or about $77 million, over the next five years with Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research. Also known as A*STAR, the agency is one of the city-state’s main public sector R&D outfits, Flagship said. Research institutes affiliated with A*STAR will collaborate with Flagship portfolio companies to co-develop “technologies in strategically important areas,” the groups said. Singapore’s agency will also provide access to its scientists and facilities. Flagship Asia-Pacific chair André Andonian told Endpoints News that the partners will focus on “scientific exchange,” talent development and venture creation. They are interested in cell and gene therapies, nucleic acid therapeutics, precision medicine and using artificial intelligence for drug discovery, according to Andonian, who has led Flagship’s outpost in Singapore since last year after a 34-year career at McKinsey. The Singapore unit has four Flagship employees so far, Andonian said. In the Asia-Pacific, Flagship also has a partnership with Samsung. Flagship will likely unveil another partnership in the Asia-Pacific by the end of the year, Andonian said, and within two years, Flagship aims to have at least six partnerships in the region. Singapore, Korea and Japan are the main regions of focus, but Flagship is doing an “opportunistic assessment of other markets” like China and Australia, Andonian said in an interview last year. Singapore’s biotech scene took a big hit in 2023 when A*STAR-partnered cell therapy maker Tessa Therapeutics suddenly shuttered with little explanation. Some biotechs in the area have inked global deals in the past year, including Hummingbird Bioscience and KBP Biosciences. Endeavor BioMedicines last October licensed an antibody-drug conjugate from Hummingbird for up to $430 million. That same month, Novo Nordisk bought a kidney disease drug from KBP for up to $1.3 billion, though it wound up taking an $816 million writedown after the experimental medicine failed a late-stage test. Flagship has not yet formed a portfolio company in Singapore, a spokesperson told Endpoints via email. The firm’s most famous offshoot, Moderna, announced it would create a subsidiary in Singapore in 2022. “We want to learn from this foray. Most people looking at what other such expansions look like expect that we’re there to find new companies or new investments, and that’s not what we’re there to do,” Flagship chair Noubar Afeyan told Endpoints in July. “We’re there to connect our ecosystem of some 48 companies in Cambridge, Boston, to vibrant, growing ecosystems in the UK and in APAC.” The firm also set up operations in the UK last year and disclosed its first UK-based startup in November. “The connectivity of our ecosystem there, whether it’s based on science, intellectual property that we may be able to add to what we’re doing, clinical trials, manufacturing partnerships, financial partnerships — those are all things that can add, we think, value to each and every one of our companies,” Afeyan said in July.

- Seminar presentation at the invitation of Dx&Vx and Coree Group SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Professor Wah Chiu, who visited Korea at the invitation of the Coree Group, led by Chairman Lim Chong Yoon, an inside director of Hanmi Pharmaceutical and the largest shareholder of Dx&Vx, holds a Ph.D. in biophysics from UC Berkeley and is the world's leading authority in the field of molecular imaging that combines AI technology with cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) technology. On the 21st, Professor Wah Chiu, a world-renowned scientist at Stanford University in the United States known for his work on molecular structure, was appointed as honorary advisor to Pohang City. Professor Wah Chiu's molecular imaging is a research technique that quantifies and analyzes biological phenomena such as metabolic changes and disease-causing substances that occur at the molecular level, and is based on cryogenic electron microscopy technology that is optimized for examining molecular structures and interactions that require direct 3-D visualization. Professor Wah Chiu has played a major role in revealing the structures of viruses, chaperonins, membrane proteins, ion channels, antigen-antibody complexes, and protein-RNA complexes. The industry is acknowledging the fact that Professor Wah Chiu's recent research and publications will bring about a paradigm shift in new therapeutic development. Professor Wah Chiu is currently developing a new image processing and modeling algorithm for cryo-EM structure determination, and it is expected that applying this technology will lead to groundbreaking and significant progresses in the biomedical industry. On the 19th, Professor Wah Chiu visited the Institute of Membrane Proteins (IMP) and the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory at POSTECH, toured the related facilities, and met with affiliated faculty. Professor Wah Chiu was pleasantly surprised at the state-of-the-art facilities of POSTECH and the researchers' will to conduct new drug development research, and expressed his will to continuously cooperate with Korean scholars to lay the foundation for the development of blockbuster therapeutics. In addition, he conveyed his intention to actively disseminate Stanford University's cryogenic electron microscope technology, conduct collaborative research, and foster successors through open innovation with domestic and foreign researchers. After finishing the meeting at POSTECH, Professor Wah Chiu visited Coree Pohang and shared his opinions on the establishment of vaccine research and production infrastructure within the KHUB site that the Coree Group is promoting. On the 21st, Professor Wah Chiu attended the 3rd seminar of the Korea Future Medical Innovation Research Association and expressed his bold ambition, saying, "I am well aware of the desire for medical reform and new drug development in Korea, and I plan to actively share Stanford's specialized molecular imaging-based new drug development know-how and facilities so that junior scientists with big dreams can fully realize their dreams." He plans to further explore next generation of optics and image processing tools by incorporating AI based algorithms. Such research will be essential for basic biology, drug and vaccine design, and positively affect human and planetary health. Meanwhile, Mayor Kang-Deok Lee of Pohang presented Professor Wah Chiu with a certificate of appointment as an honorary advisor to Pohang City, emphasizing the will for mutual cooperation. SOURCE Dx&Vx

非常高兴看到同润生物CD3/CD19双抗以7亿美金的首付款对外授权，以首付金额看，这是中国药企交易榜单的top3，与百利天恒和亨利接近。 考虑到CN201仅处于临床Ib阶段，这起交易的回报倍数是No.1。 随着特种兵们、老骗子们爆雷，一级市场生态越来越好，赚钱效应显著，中国创新药，已经走在成为全球新药开发engine的路上。 小越有很强列的预感：对中国biotech，A股IPO开不开，其实已经不重要。中国做药不赚钱、IPO难，又怎样？强者从不抱怨环境。 卖给MNC就够了，今年靠整体出售/授权，给投资人带来丰富回报的项目有：普方、亘喜、Proteologix、舶望、诚益、同润，KBP、瑞博、安锐、普米斯、映恩、宜联也都很不错。 一级、二级市场从未如此割裂，而美元基金与人民币基金亦如此，这些重磅项目，大部分为美元基金投资。 同润的重磅交易，给行业带来一些很好的启示： 1、做药，坚持坚持再坚持：从18年1.5亿美金A轮融资后，同润未再宣布融资，6年时间无新增融资，现金压力肯定有。但坚持住、把药物往前推是top priority，其他都靠边站，包括人员，从企业年报看，公司21-23年参保人员从54人降至23人。 24年ASCO上，CN201数据惊人：疗效好（MRD阴性>90%），耐受性更好（最大剂量到60mg，RP2D也很高、CRS可控）。于是有了2个月后的重磅交易。 2、有行业经验/人脉的投资人深度参与管理是好事：同润五位董事，有4位来自投资方-董事长陈连勇、董事朱怡波-通和毓承，董事缪静雯-淡马锡，董事张智-博裕。 投资方深度参与管理，可提高资金使用效率、链接临床资源/推动项目进展、介绍海外BD交易方，这些都非常重要。 今年好几个大交易都是LAV的被投企业，而LAV也深度参与投后治理，可见这并不是偶然。 为什么许多创始人特别排斥投资人参与呢？嘿嘿，懂的都懂。 3、管线精简精简再精简，有价值的1个就够：1.5亿美金不少，在21年同润的管线曾有4款-CN1、CN201、CN202（PDL1-TGFβ）、CN401（PI3K）。 该放弃的I/O双抗及联用，就果断放弃，1分钱也不再浪费。到现在，同润管线只有2款，其中临床阶段仅有1款。 试想，若在放弃2款管线后，公司执着于再补充几个管线，资金是否在够支持？ 4、聘请专业交易顾问：同润这次交易聘请的顾问是Centerview Partners，这个选择非常好。Centerview虽是一家精品投行，但在生物医药并购/BD领域却是头牌。AZ 390亿美金并购Alexion就是它，24年的Alpine、Ambrx、MorphoSys、Harpoon等也是它。 Centerview的医药负责人是Eric-Tokat，华尔街老司机。选择这样的财务顾问来做对外授权，他们可以直接对接到MNC总部，且对各家胃口很了解，能最大程度促成交易。 只要选对顾问，千万别嫌贵，贵有贵的道理。 5、CRO能做出顶级好药，只要你眼光够好：CN201是药明生物开发，同润证明了VIC模式在中国完全可行。 在CRO们，做药吧，药的前方才是星辰大海、CXO就做不了好药？里小越反复强调CRO做药能力很强，若能好好利用CRO，没必要全部从头开始。 这次一些pharma里的研发，应该要破大防了。做药10几年，啥好东西也没做出来，还天天瞧不起CRO，有啥资格说这个话呢？怕老板知道你水平不如CRO，把你开掉？ 说实话，大部分pharma里的药物发现部门，能力不算高，算上工资成本也不低，和CXO比到底有什么优势？   近期活动推荐   【现场参会】 报名通道；审核制 ▼ 共建Biomedical创新生态圈！ 如何加入BiG会员？