Celsion plans to bring its first-line immune-oncology drug into clinical studies in China in 2018, with the help from its long-term local partner Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceuticals. The partnership with Hisun serves multiple strategic purposes for lower costs and quicker approvals in the country where immunotherapeutics is becoming hot new category of cancer treatment.

Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceuticals is continuing to enrich its pipeline through in-licensing deals, most recently with Nascent, while seeking out-licensing opportunities for its growing pipeline of clinical-stage biologics. The company is also looking to expand into other emerging markets through international partnerships, an executive says.

Neuromodulation for urological indications, notably overactive bladder (OAB), has been dominated since the late 1990s by Medtronic’s sacral-nerve stimulation system InterStim, with the more recent addition of Cogentix Medical’s Urgent PC for tibial nerve stimulation. Yet only a fraction of OAB patients receive effective neuromodulation treatment, and several companies hope to lower barriers to this modality by developing alternative devices for urological indications.

A new company created by NDI Medical has a novel deep-brain stimulation algorithm for treating Parkinson’s disease, which, according to the firm, requires less power and may be more effective than currently available DBS systems for Parkinson’s.