Novotech at ESMO Congress 2022 – New Data Shows 100% Oncology Trials Growth in APAC

SYDNEY, Sep 5, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Novotech, the leading Asia Pacific biotech specialist CRO, will attend ESMO Congress 2022 with new data showing Asia Pacific has seen a 100% growth in oncology trials during 2017 to 2021 and contributes to more than a third of the global clinical development of immune-oncology drugs.

Novotech has experienced CRO operations across APAC and the US offering a unique and unparalleled suite of services for early to late phase biotech clinical research.

The clinical data compiled by GlobalData for Novoteoch also found that: "By the end of 2021 40% of active immuno-oncology clinical trials involved at least one location in the Asia-Pacific region, with majority of trials conducted in China, followed by Australia, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. In the APAC region, the proportion of oncology trials doubled during 2017-2021. In China, the growth in oncology trials was associated with a significant increase in cancer incidence, development of innovative products by domestic companies, focus on immune-oncology, and leadership in cell therapy."

Download the Reports Here:
IMMUNO-ONCOLOGY – ASIA PACIFIC – CLINICAL TRIAL LANDSCAPE https://novotech-cro.com/whitepapers/immuno-oncology-asia-pacific-clinical-trial-landscape
EVOLUTION OF CLINICAL TRIALS IN THE ASIA PACIFIC REGION COMPARED TO THE US AND THE EU5 https://novotech-cro.com/whitepapers/evolution-clinical-trials-asia-pacific-region-compared-us-and-eu5

According to Yooni Kim, Vice President, Global Clinical Services Novotech: "Asia-Pacific offers a compelling solution for expedited clinical trials with its vast patient populations, less competitive clinical trial landscape, and world-class KOLs, in addition, regulatory reforms have accelerated approval processes. Novotech's service delivery model is tailored to the needs of biotech clients. Our local teams have exceptional site and investigator access, our project management approach emphasizes problem-solving, ownership and flexibility, and our investments in data and technology ensure clients have real-time access to trial performance."

Novotech has recently been benchmarked as a top 10 CRO among the world's leading CROs, and has signed 45 Leading Site Partnership agreements over the last 3 years.

About Novotech

Novotech is the leading Asia-Pacific biotech specialist CRO. Novotech has integrated labs and phase I facilities and provides drug development consulting and clinical development services across all phases. It has been instrumental in the success of approximately 4,000 clinical trials across a broad range of therapeutic areas. Novotech is well-positioned to serve biopharma clients conducting clinical trials in Asia-Pacific and the US. For more information visit https://novotech-cro.com/contact

Media Contact
David James
E: communications@novotech-cro.com
AU: +61 2 8218 2144
USA: +1 415 951 3228
Asia: +65 3159 3427

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

EC Healthcare Chairman Mr. Eddy Tang Increases Shareholding, Demonstrating Full Confidence in the Group’s Future Development

HONG KONG, Sep 2, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – EC Healthcare (the "Company", which together with its subsidiaries is referred to as the "Group", SEHK stock code: 2138), the largest non-hospital medical group in Hong Kong*, is pleased to announce that on 1 September 2022, the Group's Chairman, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Tang Chi Fai had acquired a total 107,000 shares of the Company on the open market for approximately HK$587,000 at an average price of HK$5.4905 per share. After the transaction, Mr. Tang holds an aggregate of 722,034,610 shares in the Company, increasing his equity stake from 61.26% to 61.27%.

Mr. Eddy Tang, Chairman, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of EC Healthcare said, "Benefitting from the result of its continuous investment in IT, brand and service, the Group recorded a sales volume of no less than HK$860 million in the first quarter of the financial year ended 31 March 2023 (April to June 2022). This shows a good recovery in its business. EC Healthcare will continue to consolidate the healthcare market through organic growth and acquisitions and thus reinforce its leading market position. The Group believes that the medical market will remain resilient in the challenging business environment and that public-private partnerships in healthcare will keep boosting spending in the market of Hong Kong's private healthcare sector in the long run. Looking ahead, the management remains optimistic about the Group's business performance. The Group will also forge ahead with its deep cooperation with the key players in the technology, telecommunications, insurance, property, and pharmaceutical industries so as to keep enriching EC Healthcare's enclosed healthcare ecosystem."

About EC Healthcare
EC Healthcare is Hong Kong's largest non-hospital medical service provider*, leveraging its core businesses of preventive and precision medicine, and committed to developing medical artificial intelligence by integrating its multi-disciplinary medical services. The move, which is supported by the Group's high-end branding and quality customer services, is aimed at offering customers safe and effective healthcare and medical services with professionalism.

The Group principally engages in the provision of one-stop medical and health care services in Greater China. The Group provides a full range of services and products under its well-known brands, including those of its one-stop aesthetic medical solutions provider DR REBORN which has ranked first in Hong Kong by sales for years, primary care clinics jointly established with Tencent Doctorwork, chiropractic services centre New York Spine and Physiotherapy Center NYMG, health management centre re:HEALTH, a vaccine centre Hong Kong Professional Vaccine HKPV, a comprehensive dental centre EC DENTAL CARE, a diagnostic and imaging centre HKAI, an oncology treatment centre reVIVE, a day procedure centre HKMED, a specialty clinic SPECIALISTS CENTRAL, NEW MEDICAL CENTER and Prime Medical Centres, obstetrics and gynaecology specialist ZENITH MEDICAL CENTER AND PRENATAL DIAGNOSIS CENTRE, specialists central, a paediatric center PRIME CARE, cardiology center HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL CARDIOLOGY CENTER, PathLab Medical Laboratories, a professional hair care center HAIR FOREST, Ophthalmology Center VIVID EYE and EC Veterinary Hospital and Imaging Center.

*According to independent research conducted by Frost and Sullivan in terms of revenue in 2020 and 2021

For further information, please contact:
iPR Ogilvy Limited
Callis Lau / Lorraine Luk / Charmaine Ip
Tel: (852) 2136 6952 / 2169 0467 / 3920 7649
Fax: (852) 3170 6606
Email: ech@iprogilvy.com

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Legend Capital: The Logic of Technology Investment Has Changed

HONG KONG, Sep 2, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Legend Capital recently announced that it made its 100th IPO following the listing of its AI medical portfolio company Lunit on the KOSDAQ market on 21 July 2022. In addition, Legend Capital's CRO portfolio company R&G Pharmastudies was successfully listed on the ChiNext of Shenzhen Stock Exchange on 2 August 2022, while on 5 August 2022, the innovative drug portfolio company MicuRx Pharmaceuticals went public on the STAR Market, becoming the 101st IPO and the 102nd IPO in Legend Capital's investment portfolio. In a recent interview, Richard Li, President of Legend Capital, revealed the history of Legend Capital in technology investment and proposed that the logic of technology investment has undergone important changes.

Over 100 IPOs and 100 Unicorns
Legend Capital pays more attention to the quality rather than the quantity of IPOs, but the 100th IPO remarks an important milestone for Legend Capital. Richard Li, President of Legend Capital, said in the interview: "What matters is not about the quantity of IPOs, but more about the repeated verification of the investment expertise of Legend Capital team, who has long been rooted in technology investment.

From Lunit to R&G Pharmastudies and MicuRx Pharmaceuticals, these IPO achievements at home and abroad are in line with Legend Capital's development: starting from the USD fund and growing stronger with the RMB fund. Among its peers, Legend Capital stands out with its distinctive feature – it is well-versed in the system of USD funds, but is also rooted in China and inherently adept at a local investment with the RMB fund.

Looking back at Legend Capital's development history, we can see a microcosm of the changes in China's technology investment. In Richard Li's memory, since the company's investment in iFLYTEK in 2001, Legend Capital has been systematically investing in companies that are in the early stages of technological innovation, and many of them have become industry leaders such as iFLYTEK, Spreadtrum, CATL, WuXi AppTec, Pharmaron, Wuxi Lead Intelligent and CNGR Advanced Material, etc., tapping into core sectors of new energy, semiconductor, life science, new materials and so on. So far, among Legend Capital's invested companies, there are over 100 unicorn companies with a valuation of over USD1 billion, creating a huge and systematic technology investment footprint.

With over two decades of expertise, Legend Capital has cultivated a profound understanding of the technology and innovation drives of China, accumulated rich resources around industries, and built a powerful portfolio ecosystem. Legend Capital helps overseas enterprises expand business in the Chinese market and promotes the global expansion of enterprises by bridging key resources in China such as R&D and supply chain.

On the other hand, by leveraging its "China Insights", Legend Capital also helps portfolio companies and entrepreneurs in China to "go global" and achieve strategic objectives across the border by integrating overseas resources and opportunities, helping portfolio companies to respond to complex changes in the global industry landscape and meanwhile generating new investment opportunities.

The Significance of 100 IPOs
Looking back at the 100 IPOs, they are remarkably diverse while at the same time representing a consistent theme. Regarding the breakdown of listing location, 31 of our portfolio companies were successfully listed on Shenzhen Stock Exchange, 20 on Shanghai Stock Exchange, 22 on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, 1 on Taiwan Stock Exchange, 4 on New York Stock Exchange, 16 on Nasdaq, 5 on Korea Stock Exchange, 1 on Japan Exchange Group. With the majority listed on A-share markets, Legend Capital has extensive exit experience in multiple capital markets, which is relatively rare in investment institutions in China.

From the market value (in RMB), there is 1 company with a market value of trillions – CATL; 10 companies with a market value of 100 billion, such as iFLYTEK, Pharmaron, WuXi AppTec, WuXi Biologics, Wuxi Lead Intelligent, Shanghai Putailai New Energy, CNGR Advanced Material, and JD Logistics; 15 companies with a market value of more than 50 billion, and 43 companies with a market value of more than 10 billion; and 25 of them are "little giants" companies with Specialization, Refinement, Differentiation & Innovation features. Legend Capital is active behind the rise of many Chinese technology companies.

Richard Li summarized several characteristics regarding Legend Capital's 100 IPOs: First, it covers multiple sectors. The second is balance, which is also one of the deep impressions that Legend Capital has left on the public – internationalization practices in RMB funds and extremely strong localization capabilities in USD funds. Third, investment in technological innovation projects is the main focus, and investment in pure business model-innovation projects is relatively small. In addition, Legend Capital acts as the lead investor in most of its portfolio with a relatively large shareholding ratio, thus having board seats and could exert a certain influence on the operation of portfolio companies.

Patience capital in industrial chain investment
Founded in 2001, Legend Capital has experienced 20 years of technology iteration and innovation in China. "The founding team of Legend Capital all came from industrial rather than financial backgrounds, which determines the industrial and technology innovation genes of Legend Capital," Richard Li recalled. In China, Legend Capital is a pioneer in making technology investments using USD funds, much earlier than many of today's first-tier USD funds. Since 2015, Legend Capital has changed from a single fund investment business team to a unified platform to manage the operation of multiple funds, including long-term PE funds, TMT specialized funds, health care specialized funds, etc., to compose a more synergistic team.

This synergy effect is reflected in Legend Capital's investment across different platforms and funds. With regard to its investment in the semiconductor industry, Legend Capital has systematic research on semiconductor companies and makes selective investments, with different funds investing in different types of targets. For example, Legend Capital invests in some enterprises that integrate resources and iterate products under a mature technology framework. Once successful, they will create a huge market of the replacement of the current framework, and even the first round of financing for these enterprises would reach billions of dollars. In the long run, they will grow into companies with a market value of hundreds of billions of dollars. Under such circumstances, Legend Capital will make a large proportion of investment through mature PE funds.

However, the entire semiconductor industry is still in the early stage of development currently, and the latest semiconductor technology represents a new design concept and architecture, as well as a trend in cutting-edge technology. At this stage, many start-up technology companies need our support in the form of early-stage fund investment that accompanies their development in the long run. This will in turn contribute to the diversification, synergy and expansion of Legend Capital's investment tools and targets.

The investment in the lithium battery industry, on the other hand, reflects the industry chain investment theme that is rooted in the industry background of the Legend Capital team. Benefiting from the long-term in-depth layout in the industrial mapping and the precise control of investment timing, Legend Capital has realized a number of landmark investments in the new energy field. Among them, projects such as Lead Intelligent, CATL, PUTAILAI, CNGR, Hymson have created huge returns for Legend Capital.

Based on the prediction of the scale and trend of the downstream industry, Legend Capital has also systematically invested in assisted and autonomous driving along the direction of intelligent and unmanned new energy vehicles, as well as related sensor, radar, chip, and other projects in similar niches. Typical cases include Pony.ai, Zongmu Technology, MUNIU Tech, Black Sesame Technologies, etc.

Richard Li said frankly: "Distinct from the internet sector, hard technology companies have a relatively long incubation period. Technology verification and productization need to be completed in the early stage, then put into the market, and then gradually scale up. The industry has large development potential and the enterprises have strong profitability. However, the market environment is complex, so it is hard for 'one winner to take all', and it is unrealistic to rely on first-mover advantage to achieve home runs. Therefore, investment institutions need to grasp the inflection point of the industry, such as when the effectiveness of the technology could be verified and when the product develops rapidly, which tests investors' judgment on timing.

Richard Li summed it up in this way: To invest in science and technology, it is necessary to have an industrial mindset, sort out the industrial map, and then invest according to the timing of different stages and nodes of the industry. After that, we need to wait, and time will show us the answer. Investment institutions should have the patience and determination to accompany enterprises for a long time.

The Logic of Technology Investment Has Changed
Looking back on 20 years of experience in China's Venture Capital, Richard Li exclaimed that the industry is undergoing great changes today. "It's a systemic change including funding sources, investment directions and exit channels." He believes that these years are a critical turning point for the industry. Investment institutions need to make targeted adjustments to accommodate the new environment.

In the past, the fundraising and exit of USD funds were both structured abroad, which led to most of the funds not actually investing in China. "To some extent, it is equivalent to going public in the United States with financial statements submitted from companies in China, and then selling shares in the United States market to exit." US dollar investors must now face up to the fact that the old game is over.

Richard Li bluntly remarked that when USD funds began to shift investment focus from business model innovation to hard technology, in addition to the changes in target investment fields, the fundamental difference between the historic "two-end abroad" to invest in Chinese Concept Stocks and the new reality of China-rooted model of "investing onshore in China" put forth significant requirements for the localization of investment institutions, which requires long-term accumulation of resource networks and support from mid to back office.

Besides, to be successful in using USD funds to invest in hard technologies in China with a focus on local listings and exits, it is very important to manage a complementary large-scale RMB fund as the cooperation between the two derives unique differentiation. Otherwise, we can only invest in individual "Cusp" projects opportunistically, rather than systematically investing in a long-term sustainable manner.

This is also the challenge and opportunity that Legend Capital has always emphasized. Our latest plan focuses on technology investment, while paying attention to domestic A-share exit channels, we also take into account the exit channels for overseas investment projects in overseas capital markets, including Hong Kong stocks, US stocks, and capital markets such as South Korea and Japan. "Actually, these plans are things that we started doing a few years ago. If you just start to do these things today, I think it's too late." Said Richard Li.

About Legend Capital
Founded in 2001, Legend Capital is a leading VC&PE investor focusing on early-stage and growth-stage opportunities in China, with offices across Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Seoul, Korea.

It currently manages USD and RMB funds of over US$10 billion in commitments and has invested in around 600 companies, covering technology, healthcare, consumer, enterprise service and intelligent manufacturing sectors. Rooted in China, Legend Capital participated in the rise of many world-leading companies through solid investment coverage and systematic post-investment value-add. Over the years, Legend Capital has also become a widely recognized name in bridging key resources in China and overseas through cross-border activities, and a valuable partner to Chinese and overseas investors.

Legend Capital values long-term sustainable investment and incorporates ESG into its long-term development strategy. As a UNPRI signatory since November 2019, Legend Capital is among the first group of top VC/PE firms in China to join the initiative.

For more information, please visit www.legendcapital.com.cn/index_en.aspx and follow us on LinkedIn @Legend Capital (https://www.linkedin.com/company/legend-capital).

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Younger Colorectal Cancer Population Highlights the Importance of Early Screening, Highly Sensitive Test Product Prenetics has Launched the Market

HONG KONG, Sep 2, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Colorectal cancer (CRC) has become one of the main cancers threatening the health of human beings. In the United States and China, CRC has ranked among the top three cancers that leads to death.

CRC screening has been proven to be one of the most effective tools for preventing colorectal cancer. Research indicated that since screening was first recommended in 1980 in the United States, the incidence rate of CRC has dropped by 40%. Meanwhile, it's also important to follow the updated evidence, ensuring that the screening is suitable for the people who benefit most.

The onset of Disease Tends to be Younger
Latest research has indicated that 94% of newly CRC cases occur in adults over 45 years old. Among which, the number of newly onset and death cases occurring in individuals under the age of 50 has increased a lot. CRC diagnosis among younger adults is growing.

Therefore, National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has updated its guidance in 2021, suggesting that people at average risk shall conduct screening from the age of 45.

U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) also pointed out that all asymptomatic adults aged 45 years old or above are exposed to CRC risks. Even without high-risk factors, they're recommended to take CRC screening.

Although the incidence rate of CRC is as high as thyroid cancer and breast cancer, chance of treating CRC is better at an early age. It is very important to early find and treat the disease to ensure a higher survival rate. Research by the world-leading diagnosis and genetic health testing company Prenetics (PRE.O) showed that the 5-year survival rate of stage I and II CRC is up to 90% and stage III is 72.8%. It falls to 15.1% for stage IV CRC.

Despite the significantly higher survival rate in the early treatment of CRC, unfortunately nearly half of the CRC cases are detected in the advanced stage, leading to extremely difficult treatment. Lacking a convenient and highly effective detection method is the vital cause of this phenomenon.

Significant Reform of CRC Detection
CRC screening has always relied on invasive detection methods including colonoscopy. Since such detection may cause pain or discomfort, some patients refuse the screening.

With the rising popularity of genetic detection science, CRC screening has welcomed a significant reform. Currently, a non-invasive and at-home screening test product – ColoClear has been introduced by Prenetics and New Horizon Health to the Southeast Asia market, which can detect pre-cancerous lesions and early, middle, and advanced stage CRC in an effective way.

Combining advanced stool DNA technology with a fecal immunochemical test (FIT), ColoClear is easier, cheaper, and simpler and has high sensitivity, up to 96%, which is comparable to the traditional colonoscopy.

On top of ColoClear, CircleDNA, a home health diagnosis product of Prenetics that give over 500 test reports in 20 categories, which plays an important role in the early detection of cancer and other potential disease risks.

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

APAC Attracts 50% of Global Clinical Trials According to New GlobalData Report

SYDNEY, Sep 2, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Novotech, the leading Asia Pacific biotech specialist CRO has released new market data in a report now available titled "Evolution of Clinical Trials in the Asia Pacific Region". The report was prepared by GlobalData and confirms that "the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region was the largest contributor to the global clinical trial landscape from 2017 to 2021, accounting for more than 50% of conducted trials during the analysis period."

Download report here https://novotech-cro.com/whitepapers/evolution-clinical-trials-asia-pacific-region-compared-us-and-eu5

In addition, the GlobalData research found that all phases of clinical trials in the region registered higher growth than both the US and the EU5.

The region registered significantly higher growth than the US and the EU5 across all analysed therapeutic areas, including CNS diseases, cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, and infectious diseases, the latter of which witnessed the highest growth. There was also 100% growth in oncology trials during the same period.

GlobalData analysis of this strong growth has been linked to a range of factors, including:
– site availability, particularly for oncology trials, when compared to the US and Europe
– lower operating costs
– the pharmacogenomic profile of Asian populations as a key factor that requires Phase I data in local populations.

"Add to the mix the ease of regulatory compliance as well as the high standards required, and overseas drugmakers have never been keener to access this burgeoning market," according to GlobalData. "Recent streamlining of drug approval by the government, guided by the National Health Commission (NHC) and National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), has also resulted in a more efficient and clear-cut drug approval system based on global standards."

According to Yooni Kim, Vice President, Global Clinical Services Novotech: "Asia-Pacific offers a compelling solution for expedited clinical trials with its vast patient populations, less competitive clinical trial landscape, and world-class KOLs, in addition, regulatory reforms have accelerated approval processes. Novotech's service delivery model is tailored to the needs of biotech clients. Our local teams have exceptional site and investigator access, our project management approach emphasizes problem-solving, ownership and flexibility, and our investments in data and technology ensure clients have real-time access to trial performance. In addition, experienced CRO operations across APAC and the US offer a unique and unparalleled suite of services for early to late phase biotech clinical research."

Novotech has recently been benchmarked as a top 10 CRO among the world's leading CROs, and has signed 45 Leading Site Partnership agreements over the last 3 years.

About Novotech

Novotech is the leading Asia-Pacific biotech specialist CRO. Novotech has integrated labs and phase I facilities and provides drug development consulting and clinical development services across all phases. It has been instrumental in the success of approximately 4,000 clinical trials across a broad range of therapeutic areas. Novotech is well-positioned to serve biopharma clients conducting clinical trials in Asia-Pacific and the US. For more information visit https://novotech-cro.com/contact

Media Contact
David James
E: communications@novotech-cro.com
AU: +61 2 8218 2144
USA: +1 415 951 3228
Asia: +65 3159 3427

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Transcenta Holding (06628): Product pipeline progressing well with significant competitive differentiation

HONG KONG, Sep 1, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – As pharmaceutical reformation is underway, the importance of the innovative strength of biotech companies has become increasingly prominent, the entire industry has also formed a completely different pattern from ten years ago. Today, differentiation has also become the general trend of the industry.

Photo: Transcenta's Pipeline, Source: Company website

Photo: Transcenta's ICB Platform, Source: Company website

As the interim results of Hong Kong companies have recently been announced, we might as well look for potential targets from the announcements that aim to differentiate themselves and truly bet on innovation. We found that Transcenta Holding (06628) might be worthy of attention. Transcenta has a strong focus on innovative research and development, well advanced in international clinical trials, while having multiple competitive advantages. Let's take a look at this Company.

Dr. Caroline Germa, Transcenta's new CMO, accelerates the development of differentiated pipelines

The core of differentiation in the industry is First-in-class and Best-in-class. In terms of pipelines, Transcenta has injected significant innovative attributes, developing the most innovative drugs such as FIC/BIC, highlighting the advantages of differentiated clinical strategy and development, which is expected to facilitate the pipeline product approval and commercialization and address the unmet medical needs.

Moreover, it can also be seen from the clinical trial overview that Transcenta's new drug development is more oriented towards global strategy, targeting the interests of the global market, and basically the product canddiates of the Company are being developed in parallel in both China and the US. This advantage is also based on the fact that the Company has a very efficient team in bothUS and China, with a deep understanding of the industry, covering all aspects of discovery, research and clinical trial development and manufacturing.

The majority of Transcenta's executives have a background of 15-20 years in leading pharmaceutical companies, with proven track record and a well-balanced combination of expertise spanning research, clinical development, manufacturing, strategic planning and financing. At the same time, the Company has a scientific advisory team of internationally renowned experts and industry elites. In the process of moving into the global "blue ocean", the Company is also gradually developing and growing, attracting more outstanding talents to join. Recently, the Company welcomed a new CMO, Dr. Caroline Germa, as the Company's Executive Vice President of Global Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer.

As a leader in oncology and drug development, Dr. Germa has a high reputation in the industry, and her personal strength has been proven by many achievements. Dr. Germa has worked for AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), Novartis and several other internationally renowned pharmaceutical companies, and has accumulated considerable industrial experience, also involved in the development and research of a number of blockbuster drugs including Ribociclib and Neratinibfor breast cancer.

Dr. Germa's joining Transcenta Holding will undoubtedly provide a great boost to the Company's innovative development. In the future, with her contacts in the pharmaceutical industry and her unique and profound understanding, she will better lead Transcenta's global expansion and make a significant contribution to enhancing the Company's shareholder value in the future. It is not difficult to find that the Company's team with high qualifications and deep background has laid a solid foundation for the global application and clinical development of its innovative pipeline molecules.

At present, Transcenta has built a diversified and risk-balanced pipeline of antibodies with best-in-class or first-in class potential in therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs, including oncology, kidney and bone diseases. Most of these molecules are discovered and developed in house. Specifically, the Company's oncology product pipeline targets major cancer pathways which have potential synergistic mechanisms of actions for tumor indications, which is precisely the most differentiated design of the Company's oncology pipelines. Moreover, the Company has developed non-oncology pipeline strategy, which plays in a field facing less competition and reach high market potentials.

It is worth to mention that the drug discovery technology of Transcenta Group is particularly impressive. Based on the unique IMTB antibody discovery platform, the company has developed a number of antibodies targeting various pooled sites above a particular target, thereby expanding the selectivity of its drug candidates. The Company has generated and is developing oncology products such as TST001, TST005, TST003 and TST010 through the IMTB technology platform. In the future, more valuable innovative drugs will be discovered and filed for global registration, helping Transcenta Group to become a leading global biotechnology company.

Rapidly advancing product pipeline, leading the world in clinical progress

The strength of Transcenta Holding is not only reflected in the layout and research and development of innovative drugs, but also in the Company's ability to execute and facilitate clinical trials. In the first half of 2022, the Company actively advanced its product pipeline and achieved remarkable results. In particular, the Company's flagship product, TST001, ranked second in the world in terms of clinical progress and will soon enter Phase III clinical trials.

Claudin18.2 has relatively high expression in gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, esophageal cancer and bile duct cancer, and TST001 has high biological activity, affinity and NK cell activity, and has ideal efficacy and safety. It has a considerable commercial application prospect. At the same time, the Company has also developed a specific antibody for companion diagnostics and will use this Claudin18.2 immunohistochemical assay to support international clinical trial registration. The Company is also well ahead of schedule and at the forefront of the world in this area.

In developing TST001, Transcenta has, on the one hand, continued to explore multiple tumor types. On the other hand, the Company is also experimenting with TST001 combination regimens, and its clinical progress is likewise world-leading. Let's keep an eye on its mid-term phase 2 clinical data for TST001 and chemotherapy combination in frontline gastric cancer patients as the company disclosed it will be published soon in a major European clinical oncology conference. This could be important to understand the potential of TST001.

Not only that, the Company's other pipelines are also progressing smoothly, including the bifunctional humanized antibody TST005 targeting both PD-1/PD-L1 and TGF-beta pathways, the candidate product TST002, a humanized sclerostin mAb for the treatment of osteoporosis, and a high affinity humanized monoclonal antibody TST003 (FIC) and TST004, a humanized MASP-2 mAb candidate for kidney diseases. It is worth mentioning that the Company's first-in-class targeting Gremlin1(TST003), a preclinical asset with antitumor activities in multiple difficult to treat tumor models were published in the international oncology authoritative journal "Nature Cancer". In addition, the Company has also developed a series of relatively early pipeline products, which further enriched the Company's product pipeline. As these candidate products gradually enter the clinic stages and are successively approved in the future, the Company's intrinsic value will gain more impetus.

Actively promoting CDMO business to fully realise the source of income and reduce expenditure

In addition to product development, Transcenta Holding has also forward-looking in the layout of commercial production. It can be seen from the Company's results announcement that Transcenta has established a complete CMC and production platform, both for early cell line process development and GMP mass production systems, which are designed by the Company and met international standards.

Transcenta Holding utilises a novel integrated continuous bioprocessing platform (ICB) for developing robust production processes, formulations and analytics, manufacturing drug products throughout product life cycle. The advantages of the Company's ICB platform are significant, as its capacity is more than 10 times higher than the traditional Fed-batch flow addition process, and its cost has been significantly reduced by almost 50%. In May 2022, Transcenta had successfully passed audit by the European Union Quality Person (QP). This combination of quality and cost advantages supports the clinical studies and registration of the Company's candidate products worldwide.

In addition, Transcenta has leveraged its CMC capabilities and the potential value of its ICB platform to further expand its CDMO business. While the CDMO business has enabled the Company to achieve open source and cost savings, it has also attracted the attention of international high-quality partners by virtue of the high-quality industry reputation accumulated in the client, and further expands international cooperation. The Company has been developing and collaborating commercially with Merck for an industry-first disposable flow-through polishing system, and maintains a domestic leading position in the field of perfusion technology.

Summary

All in all, the interim results announcement of Transcenta Holding has many highlights and the Company's competitive advantages are distinct. Whether it is drug discovery, clinical development, or commercial production, it has strong strength in all aspects. We believe that with the successful development and commercialization of the Company's innovative and differentiated products, Transcenta will achieve leapfrog development and is worthy of long-term attention.

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

aCommerce and Johnson & Johnson Launch Sustainable Packaging Solution for a Better E-commerce Future in the Philippines

BANGKOK & MANILA, Sep 1, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – aCommerce Group, the largest end-to-end e-commerce enabler in Southeast Asia, has partnered with Johnson & Johnson Philippines, part of the largest and most broadly based healthcare company in the world, in a joint venture to offer a sustainable packaging alternative and 100% recyclable solution in the Philippines.

The solution was developed through a wide-scale collaboration to reduce e-commerce waste and create a sustainable future for e-commerce in Southeast Asia. The forecasted amount of plastic savings from this initiative would be equal to 106,684 SQM of plastic – the equivalent to the area of 254 basketball courts. The new packaging solution will replace previously non-recyclable packaging materials with new, innovative, green, and simple packaging, rolling out through the month of August.

The paper used in the new packaging is 100% recyclable, non-toxic, and biodegradable. The innovative VoidFill acts as a box filler, replacing the plastic bubble wrap, and offers superior protection from damages by filling any excess space in the box. An additional cushioning layer is added to fragile deliveries to ensure outstanding control against shock and vibrations. The final layer, the Geami WrapPak layer, is added to avoid any surface abrasions, minor handling damages, and internal impact.

Both companies' sustainability goals are naturally aligned. "As part of our responsibility to the environment. aCommerce will continue to invest in a sustainable future. We are excited to offer recyclable and biodegradable solutions using cutting-edge material engineering. We are truly fortunate to have like-minded partners such as Johnson & Johnson, that take action in order to create a cleaner future," said Paul Srivorakul, Group Chief Executive Officer at aCommerce.

"We are committed to doing our part to leave a better world for future generations. We are excited to pilot our green e-commerce initiative with Shopee and Lazada, knowing that this 'first step' will help reduce plastic pollution that goes into our landfills and into our waterways. We hope that our consumers will take advantage of the offer when they order their favorite Johnson & Johnson products through Shopee and Lazada. Our consumers win, and so will our environment," said Denise Peralta, Johnson & Johnson Philippines head of e-commerce.

Visit Johnson & Johnson stores and shop responsibly and worry-free:
Shopee: https://shopee.ph/johnsonandjohnson.ph
Lazada: https://www.lazada.com.ph/shop/johnson-johnson

Released for aCommerce Group by MT Multimedia Co Ltd
Wasana Wongsiri (Jiab), T: +66 84 359 0659, E: wasana.w@mtmultimedia.com

Johnson & Johnson (Philippines), Inc. (J&J Philippines) launched J&J PH Chat & Shop as its official social-commerce platform to simplify purchasing of various consumer health products. Powered by aCommerce, it delivers a fully-automated experience – 24/7 shopping via Chatbot with a live agent ready to assist customers during business hours, and seamless, easy navigation even for new users. https://facebook.com/jnjphchatshop.

aCommerce (SET: ACOM) revolutionized e-commerce enablement with a cutting-edge platform & technology stack, EcommerceIQ. Proprietary software includes innovative omnichannel management software. We drive brands to achieve e-commerce goals with high-performance digital marketing, online store development & management, data & analytics, customer care, fulfillment, & delivery services. Visit https://acommerce.asia.

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

CT Event Asia to host ASEAN Healthcare Transformation Summit 2022

KUALA LUMPUR, Sep 1, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – This year, CT Event Asia is all set to bring you the Asean Healthcare Transformation Summit 2022, themed "Leveraging Human Touch and Technology in the Era of Connected Health". Happening at the JW Marriot Hotel on 6th-7th September 2022, this conference is the most interactive healthcare summit in Southeast Asia, aims to address the most pressing issues in the healthcare sector. The summit promises to be even larger and will feature keynotes sessions emphasizing on the digital health ecosystem, public health systems transformation, universal health coverage, robots in healthcare, integrated hospitals and burnout in HCW.

This summit will be supported by 4 focused streams on 'healthcare digitalisation & innovation', 'value based & patient centered care', 'patient safety & quality' as well as 'lean management & operations excellence'.

We are anticipating over 500+ participants from utility leaders, Hospitals, Government agencies, Pharmaceutical, Solution providers, IT and Investors to discover the healthcare landscape, transformation solutions in healthcare, emerging trends in the industry and new health-tech to stay relevant in your profession in a challenging and complex operating environment. Here is our speaker list!

Join us now to get more insights from the healthcare industry leaders and meet our Sponsors and Partners as well with all of this to explore, our Asean Healthcare Transformation Summit 2022 is set out to be bigger than ever! Here's our list of Sponsors and Partners.

The Asean Healthcare Transformation Summit 2022 website has full details about the program. Interested parties can visit the website here or request for the event brochure here.

To get in touch with our team for enquires relating to this event, feel free to reach out to:
Camara
Partnership Director
CT Event Asia
+60 16 283 2660 | +03 2710 7756
camara@cteventasia.com

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Universal Medical (2666.HK) Announces 2022 Interim Results

HONG KONG, Aug 31, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – The board of directors of Genertec Universal Medical Group Co Ltd (the "Company" or "Universal Medical"; Stock code: 2666.HK) is pleased to announce the interim results of the Company and its subsidiaries (together, the "Group") for the six months ended 30 June 2022.

Facing with various unexpected factors emerged during the first half of 2022, while making unwavering efforts to lead the subordinate medical institutions in its proactive commitment to fighting against the pandemic, the Group adhered to its established business strategies by continuing to move forward in the field of medical and healthcare, and steadily promoted its business and improved its overall operating performance.

In the first half of 2022, the Group recorded a revenue of RMB5,712.3 million, representing an increase of 14.1% as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year; recorded a net profit of RMB1,176.4 million, representing an increase of 4.5% as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year; recorded a net profit attributable to owners of the parent of RMB1,089.4 million, representing an increase of 3.8% as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year; recorded return on total assets (ROA) of 3.20%, and return on equity (ROE) attributable to owners of the parent of 16.51%. The indicators of income maintained a steady performance and the asset quality was generally safe and controllable.

The Profit of Hospital Group Increased by 13.7% While Accommodating the Needs for Pandemic Control

Hospital group is the essential resources of building a healthcare conglomerate. Having been actively participating in integration and takeover of medical institutions of SOEs since 2017, the Group continued to expand its hospital group business, and orderly advanced its post-investment management to better accommodate the needs for pandemic control of SOE-owned hospitals. The Group also continuously enhanced the three core capabilities of "discipline", "operation" and "service", with an aim to build overall advantages of the hospital group in terms of safety, effectiveness, accessibility, and humanities as a way to promote high-quality development of hospitals of SOEs. Moreover, relying on the development foundation of the hospital group, the Group expanded business layout in various fields including medical service, life cycle management of medical equipment, medical testing, internet-based healthcare services, health and wellness and insurance, and actively expanded external customers while efficiently serving the Group's member hospitals to gradually lay a foundation for development in scale.

With the implementation of group management and control of hospitals, the core capabilities of disciplines, operations and services have been gradually improved to lay the groundwork for sustainable growth trends in the medical business. In the first half of 2022, facing with the frequent outbreaks and pandemic rebound in certain cities, its medical institutions made proactive response to the relevant requirements of the government regarding pandemic prevention and control by undertaking a great number of nucleic acid testing and vaccination tasks. Under the temporary operation pressure of staff shortage and increasing costs for pandemic prevention and control, the Group maintained overall stable profitability in the first half of 2022 through measures such as increasing volunteer medical consultation and featured services to boost business volume and reinforce refined operation.

In terms of consolidated revenue, in the first half of 2022, the hospital group business (excluding hospital investment platforms) recorded revenue of RMB2,721.1 million during the consolidation period, representing an increase of 28.4% as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, mainly due to the consolidation of additional medical institutions during the period, and recorded profit for the period of RMB112.6 million, representing an increase of 13.7% as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The gross profit margin from operations was 12.1%, and net profit margin was 4.1%.

In terms of operations, in the first half of 2022, the Group consolidated the accounts of six additional medical institutions with a capacity of 2,507 beds in total; the total number of medical treatments in the 51 consolidated medical institutions of the Group was approximately 5,446,000, representing an increase of approximately 52.2% as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The number of outpatient and emergency visits amounted to approximately 4,951,000, representing an increase of approximately 57.1% as compared to the corresponding period of 2021, which was mainly attributable to the significant increase in the outpatient visits for nucleic acid test during the first half of 2022. Without taking into account of the impact of nucleic acid visits, the number of outpatient and emergency visits still outperformed that of the corresponding period of the previous year by approximately 6%. The number of inpatient visits based on discharges amounted to approximately 160,000, remaining basically in line with that of the corresponding period of 2021, which was mainly due to the frequent outbreaks of covid-19 pandemic across the country during the first half of 2022. Meanwhile, with the continuous expansion of the medical examination business operated by its medical institutions, the number of visits for medical examination reached approximately 495,000 in the first half of 2022, representing an increase of approximately 15.9% as compared to the corresponding period of 2021. The revenue of hospital operation of the 51 consolidated medical institutions for the first half of 2022 reached RMB2,694.9 million in total, representing an increase of approximately 8.8% as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, and the overall income per bed of the consolidated medical institutions was approximately RMB420,000 on an annualised basis.

Following the integration and takeover of medical institutions of SOEs since 2017, the Group continued to empower the development of the hospitals and took active and effective measures in response to external factors such as the pandemic and reforms. In the future, in order to serve the national healthcare initiative and in the trend of high-quality development of the medical industry, the Group will give full play to the competition advantages of central state-owned enterprises in running medical care by reinforcing group management and control and upgrading professional operation, further improving the operating efficiency of medical institutions.

Meanwhile, by fostering hospital group, the Group will also further build replicable advantages in terms of hospital operation management, life cycle management of medical equipment, supply chain management, infrastructure management and digital services, expand the market presence in addition to the health conglomerate and cultivate the new service mode featured with the integration of industry and finance, so as to promote quality and efficiency enhancement for external hospital customers and create new growth drivers for the Company.

The Interest Income of Financial Business Increased by 5.7% under the Efforts to Overcome the Impact of Ongoing Pandemic

In the first half of 2022, the Group strived to overcome the impact of ongoing pandemic. With risk control as a top priority, the Group were committed to ensuring quality project development for its customers, with an aim to ensure safe and healthy development of the finance business. By keeping abreast of the market changes, the Group strived to control financing costs with a flexible approach to meet investment capital requirements. In the first half of 2022, the finance and advisory business of the Group recorded a revenue of RMB2,987.8 million in total, representing an increase of 3.4% as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, of which the interest income amounted to RMB2,391.1 million, representing an increase of 5.7% as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. All business indicators continued to maintain a good level. The average yield of interest-earning assets was 7.46% and the average cost rate of interest-bearing liabilities was 3.71%, while the net interest margin was 3.75% and the net interest spread was 4.16%.

While its finance business continued to expand steadily, the Group continued to optimize the dynamic management of pre-rental, rental, and post-rental process, and enhanced accountability to ensure its asset quality remaining at an industry-leading level. As of 30 June 2022, its net interest-earning assets reached RMB65,804.8 million, representing an increase of 7.7% as compared to the end of 2021; the non-performing asset ratio was 0.98%; the overdue ratio (30 days) was 0.82%, and the provision coverage ratio was 242.96%.

While keeping a controllable risk profile, the Group will continue to facilitate steady development of the finance leasing business in the fields of public hospitals and urban public utility. Leveraging on the core businesses of the central state-owned group and in an active response to the national policies, the Group will continue to foster and expand innovative businesses. The Group will explore a development model featured with the integration of finance business and medical care industry so as to lay a solid foundation for the high-quality development of a central state-owned and listed enterprise and achieve a leapfrog growth in the operating results.

About Genertec Universal Medical Group Co Ltd

Genertec Universal Medical Group Co., Ltd. ("Universal Medical"; 2666.HK) is a publicly listed state-owned enterprise committed to China's healthcare industry. China General Technology (Group) Holding Co Ltd., one of the backbone SOEs directly supervised by the central government is the controlling shareholder of the Company. Universal Medical focuses on the fast-developing healthcare industry in China, with medical services as the core and financial business as the foundation. The Company harvests modern management concepts, professionals, quality medical resources with solid financial strength, and an inclusive corporate culture. Altogether it strives to build a reliable healthcare conglomerate and develop a healthcare ecosystem that all can mutually share and benefit. The Company owns 63 medical institutions, distributed in 14 provinces and municipalities such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Liaoning, Anhui, Hebei, Beijing, and Shanghai, including 5 Grade III Class A hospitals and 29 Grade II hospitals, with a total of more than 16,000 beds. In the future, Universal Medical will continue to grasp opportunities posed by China's healthcare sector, actively respond to the "Health China" program and make contributions to China's public health industry. Please visit https://en.umcare.cn/.

This press release is released by PEANUT MEDIA LIMITED on behalf of Genertec Universal Medical Group Company Limited.

For further information, please contact:
PEANUT MEDIA LIMITED
Lu Jing / Jing Gao
Direct Line: +86-755-61619798 +8210
Email: hswh@czgmcn.com

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Dr. Glenn Haifer and Ampersand Capital Partners Acquire Australian Biologics CDMO Luina Bio, Rebranding as AcuraBio

BRISBANE, AUS, Aug 30, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – AcuraBio (formerly Luina Bio), a leading Australian biopharmaceutical CDMO, has been acquired by biotech investor Dr. Glenn Haifer and Ampersand Capital Partners, a global healthcare private equity firm.

With more than two decades of experience, AcuraBio is a globally focussed organization bringing innovative therapeutics to market for customers in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and animal health industries. AcuraBio provides recombinant proteins and vaccines, and complex live biotherapeutic products to customers on the leading edge in emerging therapeutics.

The rebranding of the company signifies an innovative new growth phase for AcuraBio. As part of the transaction, Dr. Haifer and Ampersand are bringing significant investment to the company, with a focus on expanding the organization to better serve customers. To fuel additional growth, AcuraBio is planning to increase production facility capacity, and is actively evaluating expansion into new service offerings and technological capabilities.

Dr. Haifer brings a wealth of experience to AcuraBio, as the former company Chairman and investor behind Australian biotech successes such as Agilex Biolabs and Avance Clinical. "We are very excited to be reinventing a company with such deep scientific experience," said Dr. Haifer. "With our deep expertise and commitment to further investment, AcuraBio will be a leader in the APAC region for international biopharma clients attracted by the technology, scientific excellence, and innovation we will bring to the platform. I am excited to leverage Ampersand's industry expertise as we take AcuraBio to the next level."

Based in the US and with more than $3 billion of assets under management, Ampersand is exclusively focused on growth-oriented investments in the healthcare sector. Ampersand has previously partnered with leading CDMOs such as Brammer Bio, ArrantaBio, Vibalogics, and Genezen, and the firm is a highly experienced investor in the emerging therapeutics CDMO industry. David Anderson, General Partner at Ampersand, said "AcuraBio is strategically positioned in Australia to support international biopharma drug development. Australia has a strong reputation for clinical and scientific excellence which is the foundation to success for a company like AcuraBio. We are extremely pleased to be working with Dr. Haifer, who is a proven biotech investor and growth strategist with a real focus on client-centric service innovations."

About AcuraBio

AcuraBio Pty Ltd is one of Australia's most experienced biopharmaceutical CDMOs, offering trusted, client-focused services to both domestic and international clients for the past 20 years. AcuraBio offers significant quality, cost, and IP assurances for biopharma companies around the world. World-class researchers and proven facilities, a streamlined regulatory framework, generous tax incentives, and government funding make Australia a prime location for biotech research. AcuraBio has the following operating licenses: TGA (Australian FDA equivalent) license for the manufacture of human therapeutic APIs from biological and synthetic sources, APVMA (veterinary equivalent of the TGA) license for manufacture of sterile immunobiological products, OGTR license to produce products from genetically modified organisms, and a DAF facility license for import and use of biologic materials. Additional information about AcuraBio is available at www.acurabio.com.

About Ampersand Capital Partners

Founded in 1988, Ampersand is a middle market private equity firm with more than $3 billion of assets under management dedicated to growth-oriented investments in the healthcare sector. With offices in Boston and Amsterdam, Ampersand leverages its unique blend of private equity and operating experience in seeking to build value and drive strong long-term performance alongside its portfolio company management teams. Ampersand has helped build numerous market-leading companies across each of the firm's core healthcare sectors. Additional information about Ampersand is available at www.ampersandcapital.com.

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com