Perennial Real Estate Holdings (SGX: 40S), a Singapore company, announced a $1.2 billion joint venture that will acquire and develop healthcare centers in China (see story). It plans to concentrate on integrated mixed-use developments, centered around healthcare, that are connected to China high speed railway stations. Perennial is already building two such properties, one in Chengdu and the other in Xi’an. Its major partner in the JV will be Shun Tak Holdings (HK: 242), a Hong Kong conglomerate. Perennial contributed $225 million to the first close of the JV, which is $500 million.  

Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine (SHA: 600276)  out-licensed ex-China rights for a novel JAK inhibitor to Arcutis Pharma, a California dermatology company, in a deal worth up to $233 million, plus royalties (see story). Arcutis will have rights to SHR0302 to treat dermatology disorders in the US, Europe and Japan. Hengrui is testing SHR0302 in a China Phase II trial for rheumatoid arthritis, though its agreement with Arcutis includes only topical use of the drug for dermatology diseases.  

SomaLogic of Boulder, Colorado capped its $200 million funding round, anchored by China’s iCarbonX and joined by Nan Fung Life Sciences and Madryn Asset Management (see story). SomaLogic measures the levels of human proteins in an individual as a tool for managing their health and wellness. The company’s SOMAscan® technology, which currently measures 5,000 proteins per sample, has analyzed more than 150,000 samples across more than 50 diseases or conditions. It plans to complete another 1 million samples by the end of 2020.  

Aslan Pharma (TT: 6497) of Singapore acquired global rights to varlitinib, its lead candidate aimed at several solid tumor cancers, from Array BioPharma (Nasdaq: ARRY) in a $129 million agreement (see story). In 2011, Aslan originally acquired rights to varlitinib through proof-of-concept stage. At that point, Aslan planned to partner the drug to a third party, with Aslan and Array splitting the proceeds. Now, Aslan will own full commercialization rights to varlitinib with two payments of $12 million, plus $105 million of milestones and tiered low double-digit royalties on varlitinib sales.