Shenzhen-based big data healthcare startup iCarbonX, led by former BGI CEO Jun Wang, is on the hunt for $106 million in a Series A funding and has already received a pledge of $15 million, China Money Network reports. The new venture by Wang aims to mine data from genomics and other related sources and use artificial intelligence to link the effort to finding treatment therapies. China Money Network said Shanghai-listed Vcanbio Cell & Gene Engineering disclosed its investment of $15 million in a stock exchange filing. In October, plans for iCarbonX unveiled Yingrui Li, the former chief scientist at BGI, as a co-founder. Report
> Osaka-based Takeda Pharmaceutical will work with Cambridge, MA-based Broad Institute Genomic Services in analyze samples from patients who were part of a Phase III trial of recently approved multiple myeloma drug, Ninlaro. Release
> China FDA has named four companies in Japan, Italy and India that it has either halted imports from or warned of violations as part of an inspection quality push on manufacturing standards. Release (Chinese language)
> Vietnam wants Indian drug companies to open manufacturing arms in the country to ease imports, ambassador to India Ton Sinh Thanh said. Report
> U.S.-based drugmaker Athenex--which has plans for manufacturing arms in Chongqing, China, and a lab in Hong Kong--won a U.S. FDA nod for clinical trials of Oradoxel, its oral formulation of chemotherapy treatment docetaxel. Release
> Hyderabad-based Granules India signed a deal with U.S.-based distributor Par Pharmaceutical to market OTC generic omeprazole and sodium bicarbonate, pending expected approval from the U.S. FDA, in July 2016. Report
> Taiwan FDA hauled up several drugmakers for making false ad claims, including AGV Group and Taiyen Biotech. Report
> Bangladeshi drugmakers have stepped into the export market in a big way thanks to the Least Developed Country status they enjoy; exports have risen dramatically. Report
> South Korea's Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical and U.S.-based Zafgen ($ZFGN) said they plan to resume clinical trials for the obesity treatment beloranib "in the near future." Report