BRIEF—JW Therapeutics takes over Syracuse Biopharma and Eureka tumor technologies in China

China-based clinical stage biopharma firm JW Therapeutics, which is focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing cell therapies for patients in China, today announced the acquisition of Syracuse Biopharma (Hong Kong) Limited.

The transaction includes the licenses for Eureka Therapeutics' ARTEMIS antibody TCR and solid tumor technologies for exclusive use in China and the ASEAN countries.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Dr Cheng Liu, founder and chief executive of Eureka Therapeutics, will join the board of directors of JW Therapeutics, and Victor Shum, chief business officer and general counsel of Eureka, will join as a board observer.

Syracuse Biopharma was formed in 2017 by Eureka Therapeutics to commercialize Eureka's proprietary TCR-mimic and antibody-TCR ARTEMIS programs in China and the ASEAN countries.

Syracuse's clinical programs include Eureka's anti-AFP ARTEMIS program for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the predominant type of liver cancer, which is currently in a Phase I/II clinical trial in the USA.