On June 25, Novo Nordisk announced the approval and launch of semaglutide for weight management in China. Previously, semaglutide had already been approved in China in 2021 for glycemic control; the application for weight management was accepted in June last year and has recently been approved. On June 24, insulin icodec injection (brand name: NovoLet/Awiqli), submitted by Novo Nordisk, was launched for the treatment of adult type 2 diabetes. Insulin icodec is a novel long-acting insulin analog.
On June 25, Johnson & Johnson announced that its bispecific antibody Teclistamab Injection (brand name: Talvey) has officially been approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) as a monotherapy for adult patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) who have received at least three prior lines of therapy (including a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory agent, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody). Teclistamab is the first bispecific antibody targeting B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) and CD3 to be approved in China, and it has previously been approved in the United States, the European Union, and other countries or regions.On June 24, the CDE website announced that SANEGENEBIO's Class 1 new drug, SGB-9768 injection, received implied permission for clinical trials. It is intended to be developed for the treatment of complement-mediated kidney diseases, including adult IgA nephropathy, C3 glomerulopathy, and immune complex-mediated membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis. This is an RNAi drug targeting the complement C3 protein, which has already been approved to conduct Phase 1 clinical research in New Zealand.On June 24, according to the NMPA official website, the 1st class innovative drug Cogrelatinib tablets (trade name: Beichangping) submitted by Haisco Pharmaceutical were approved for marketing in China, intended for improving glycemic control in adult patients with type 2 diabetes. Cogrelatinib is a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor.Investment and Financing in PharmaceuticalsNews on June 25: Jiaxing Antic Biotechnology Co., Ltd. officially announced that it has recently completed an A-round financing of over 200 million yuan. The funds raised in this round will be used for the preclinical and clinical development of Antic Biotech's core product pipeline, especially to accelerate the clinical trials for pediatric patients and commercialization progress of its self-developed anti-influenza Class 1 new drug, Mavirnoxavir (code name ADC189) tablets and granules.Technology-Driven Drug Research
On June 21, Xu Tianle from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Qi Xin, and Li Weiguang from Fudan University jointly published a research article titled "Sensory ASIC3 channel exacerbates psoriatic inflammation via a neurogenic pathway in female mice" in Nature Communications. The study found that the acid-sensing ion channel 3 (ASIC3) exacerbates psoriatic inflammation through a sensory neurogenic pathway. Global or nociceptor-specific Asic3 gene knockout (KO) in female mice alleviated imiquimod-induced psoriasis.
[1]Huang, C., Sun, PY., Jiang, Y. et al. Sensory ASIC3 channel exacerbates psoriatic inflammation via a neurogenic pathway in female mice. Nat Commun 15, 5288 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49577-3
