China joins COVAX

China has officially joined the COVAX Facility, the global initiative created to distribute Covid-19 diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines to all countries.

Chinese vaccine makers are behind four of the 10 Covid-19 vaccines currently in late-stage trials and Beijing’s alliance with COVAX will give the program a strong shot in the arm in its fight against the global pandemic.

“We are taking this concrete step to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, especially to developing countries, and hope more capable countries will also join and support COVAX,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement.

COVAX, short for Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, is jointly led by the World Health Organization, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

The global program set a target of delivering 2 billion doses of vaccines to the highest risk populations in the world by the end of 2021. Over 170 countries have committed to the initiative, a list that notably excludes Russia and the U.S.

Lilly’s Covid-19 therapy advances behind Chinese innovation

U.S. drug maker Eli Lilly brought welcome news last week when it announced that its monoclonal antibodies combination therapy is effective against the Covid-19 infection.

A new interim analysis of data from the company’s Phase 2 clinical trial, BLAZE-1, showed that the combination of two of Lilly’s neutralizing antibodies, LY-CoV555 and LY-CoV016, improved the outcome of patients with mild-to-moderate infection, lowering their viral load, symptoms, and Covid-related hospitalization and ER visits.

Some credit should go to Junshi BioSciences for developing LY-CoV016 (etesevimab) with the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Lilly and Junshi joined forces in May to develop Covid-19 antibody therapies, with Lilly licensing Junshi’s drug for rights to develop and commercialize the treatment outside of China.

The Indianapolis drug company plans to submit a request for emergency use authorization to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the combination therapy in November.

Hinova Pharma closes Series C with $147 million

Chendu-based drug developer Hinova Pharma closed its Series C financing round with $147 million from its list of backers, which includes Hangzhou-based CRO Tigermed and health care-focus private equity fund Sinopharm-CICC, jointly launched by CICC Capital and drug developer Sinopharm Group.

The company is developing a novel treatment for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer called HC-1119. The drug, a novel androgen receptor antagonist, is currently being tested against Pfizer/Astellas’s Xtandi (enzalutamide) in a Phase 3 multinational trial that is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Everest Medicines climbs on Hong Kong debut

Everest Medicines made its debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last Friday, closing its first day of trading at $9.40, up about 32% from its listing price of $7.10.

The China-focused drug maker raised over $450 million through its offering of more than 63.5 million shares.

“We believe that Hong Kong, because of its proximity to the China mainland and being in Asia, is very important for us. We want to be close to the patients that we serve and to the physicians that we provide innovative medicines to,” Everest CEO Kerry Blanchard told Bloomberg.

The company is working with a pipeline of eight drug candidates treating cancer, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and cardio-renal diseases.

Blanchard expects two of these medicines – triple-negative breast cancer drug Trodelvy from Immunomedics, and broad-spectrum antibiotic Xerava from Tetraphase Pharma – will be approved in the next two years.