BRIEF—Aridis Pharma set up MAb joint venture in China

US biopharma firm Aridis Pharmaceuticals today announced that it has created a joint venture with Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical, one of China's leading pharmaceutical companies, to develop and gain regulatory approval for Aridis' fully human monoclonal antibody (MAb) therapies for the greater China market.

The jointly owned subsidiary company will be named Shenzhen Arimab Biopharmaceuticals, and headquartered in China's largest technology hub, Shenzhen.

The company will be launched with significant capital commitment to advance two of Aridis' clinical candidates, AR-301 and AR-101, through potential China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) approvals in acute pneumonia caused by Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection, respectively.

Aridis and Hepalink are actively collaborating on clinical and regulatory strategies to include major hospital centers in China as part of global pivotal trials for these two assets.