The antibody-drug conjugate market is emerging as the next battleground for intense competition in China, with global partnerships becoming essential to win, as evidenced by a major new alliance between Innovent and Sanofi.

Public Company Edition: MAIA launches a $10m initial public offering, the first in the US since May, but NewAmsterdam opts for the SPAC route to the stock market. Also, Legend raises $350m in a follow-on offering, Iveric obtains access to $250m in debt and Otonomy cuts costs after a Phase II failure.

A roundup of key regulatory and policy developments in the Asia-Pacific in the first half of the year reveals broad developments across the region's diverse markets, although there seemed to be a common thread - a renewed focus on infectious diseases amid the lingering impact of the pandemic and the emergence of new threats.

While a two-hour-plus online discussion between the leaders of the world's two largest economies had some encouraging signs for the biopharma sector, more remains to be done and multiple other factors are playing into a mix of decoupling pressures.