An annual meeting to elect board members at OBI Pharma Inc (台灣浩鼎) yesterday secured Ruentex Group’s (潤泰集團) position as the largest stakeholder in the biotechnology firm.
People affiliated with Ruentex Group took four out of seven seats on OBI Pharma’s board, which also has three seats for independent members.
The outcome ended a rumor about an ongoing campaign, involving opposing major stakeholders vying to secure two seats on the company’s board, that was to be played out during yesterday’s meeting in Taipei.
OBI Pharma had originally planned to have five to nine board seats, but Ruentex Group affiliate Yi Tai Fund Co (宜泰投資股份有限公司) motioned to set the amount of seats at seven, which was approved by shareholders.
Shareholders also approved to extend Michael Chang’s (張念慈) chairmanship of the company.
Regarding OBI-822, a monoclonal antibody for treating cancer, Chang said that the firm has not ruled out collaborating with Academia Sinica or its peer Cho Pharma (醣基生醫), which have researched similar antibodies.
“OBI-888 is the result of our in-house research and we aim to secure our own patent,” Chang said.
“Although we do not rule out collaborative efforts in the future to reap the benefit of a more concerted effort with prospective partners, we do not see a need to begin licensing talks,” he added.
In addition, the company said that it is preparing to submit new drug applications for OBI-833 and OBI-834, immunotherapy drugs for treating epithelial cancer, to the authorities.
The company added that OBI-858, a product it developed to manufacture botulinum toxin, will be ready to enter the materials production phase before the end of this year, adding that it is optimizing OBI-868, a carbohydrate-based cancer diagnostic technology.
The company also announced that it will build three more research centers in the US and one in Taiwan.
OBI Pharma shares yesterday fell 3.45 percent to NT$528.
The shares fell due to a technical correction, as some retail shareholders collected short-term profits, Marbo Securities Consultant Co (萬寶證券投顧) analyst Winson Wang (王榮旭) said by telephone.
“We are positive on Ruentex Group’s dominance in the biotechnology company’s board, as it will ensure funding from the conglomerate for drug development projects,” Wang said.
After the company announced unfavorable clinical trial results for its breast cancer vaccine, OBI-822, in February, the company’s shares on April 25 dropped to this year’s lowest at NT$321.
Shareholders also approved the company’s NT$2.8 billion (US$86.1 million) deficit compensation plan, in light of a net loss of NT$941 million, or losses per share of NT$5.66, last year.
The EU and US are nearing an agreement to coordinate on producing and securing critical minerals, part of a push to break reliance on Chinese supplies. The potential deal would create incentives, such as minimum prices, that could advantage non-Chinese suppliers, according to a draft of an “action plan” seen by Bloomberg. The EU and US would also cooperate on standards, investments and joint projects, as well as coordinate on any supply disruptions by countries like China. The two sides are additionally seeking other “like-minded partners” to join a multicountry accord to help create these new critical mineral supply chains, which feed into
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Japan approved ￥631.5 billion (US$3.97 billion) in additional subsidies to hasten Rapidus Corp’s entry into the high-stakes artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaking arena, ramping up support for a project widely regarded as a long shot. The capital is intended to bankroll Rapidus’ work for information technology firm Fujitsu Ltd, one of the initial customers that Tokyo hopes would get the signature endeavor off the ground. The new money raises the fees and investments that the government is injecting into the start-up to ￥2.6 trillion by the end of the current fiscal year to March next year, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and
The founder of Chinese property giant Evergrande Group (恆大集團) has pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and bribery, a court said yesterday, the latest blow for what was once the country’s leading developer. Evergrande’s rise was propelled by decades of rapid urbanization and rising living standards, but in 2020, its access to credit dramatically narrowed when the government introduced curbs on excessive borrowing and speculation. The company defaulted in 2021 after struggling to repay creditors. Founder Xu Jiayin (許家印), 67, known as Hui Ka Yan in Cantonese, was reportedly held by police in 2023, with Evergrande saying he had been subjected to
RSS