Fierce Pharma Asia—Sun's Taro buyout; Eli Lilly's XtalPi collab; Yuhan's cancer candidate

Sun Pharma picked up Taro Pharmaceutical Industries 16 years after its initial offer. Eli Lilly and XtalPi linked up in a $250 million deal. Yuhan snapped up J INTS BIO’s HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) candidate for a total deal value of $325 million. And more. 

1. Persistent Sun Pharma ready to complete Taro buyout—16 years after initial offer

After Sun Pharma made a buyout offer in 2007, the Indian drugmaker will finally take over Taro Pharmaceutical Industries in full. Sun already owns more than 78% of Taro's shares and will snap up the remaining shares for $38 each. Taro’s assets total $1.3 billion and the company has $274 million in cash and short-term bank deposits.

2. Eli Lilly, XtalPi ink $250M deal for AI-powered drug discovery

Eli Lilly is going all-in with XtalPi’s artificial intelligence and robotics-powered technology, which it will use to identify possible drug candidates. XtalPi eligible to receive $250 million from the deal in upfront and milestone payments based on the success of the collaboration. Lilly is the latest to join up with XtalPi, following moves by Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, among others.

3. Yuhan makes $325M cancer bet to challenge Boehringer, Takeda

Korea’s Yuhan Corporation is putting down $1.9 million upfront for J INTS BIO’s HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) candidate, with a total deal value of $325 million. The oral drug is meant to be used in non-small cell lung cancer patients with HER2 exon insertion mutations, a space also being targeted by Takeda and Boehringer Ingelheim.

4. C4 joins Betta's tank to bring lung cancer therapy to greater China

Betta Pharmaceuticals snapped up the rights to commercialize C4 Therapeutics’ non-small cell lung cancer candidate in the greater China region, including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. C4 will receive $10 million upfront from the deal, plus a $25 million one-time equity investment.

6. While Pfizer, BioNTech agree to cut COVID vaccine supply to Europe, Moderna sets up shop in China

Moderna is looking to push sales of its COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in China through its new Shanghai unit, called Moderna Biotech Ltd. The company registered the unit with starting capital of $100 million, Reuters reported from Chinese data providers.