BeiGene, Ascentage Pharma and I-Mab will be among the first Chinese pharma firms to report clinical trial results for their innovative drug candidates at this year’s ASCO meeting.

Japan has granted reimbursement prices to two anticancer antibodies and other products as it supports the availability of new, higher priced therapies in areas of high medical need, including through early access, while Takeda’s Entyvio is also set for launch.

Takeda’s global blockbuster GI drug Entyvio has been approved in Japan, although its local sales prospects appear limited, while two novel cancer drugs from AstraZeneca and a world-first indication have also been cleared by the health ministry.

Device and diagnostics fundraising slumped in Q2, but there was a substantial uptick in M&A activity. Device financings totaled just slightly over half of the previous quarter, while acquisitions grew almost six-fold, thanks primarily to Becton Dickinson's $23.5 billion play for CR Bard. Financing in diagnostics slid to $1.03 billion, less than half of Q1, whereas the $1.7 billion in M&As (most of that from PerkinElmer's $1.3 billion buy of EuroImmun) was more than double Q1's aggregate.