Kangtini Pharmaceuticals and Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. plan to merge and go public in the US, receiving approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission. They intend to list on NASDAQ.

On October 20th, the International Cooperation Department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued a notice regarding the overseas issuance and listing filing of Beijing Contini Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Contini Pharmaceutical successfully achieved listing on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange in the United States through a merger with Catalyst Biosciences, Inc., with Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. concurrently issuing no more than 1,110,776,224 common shares. It is worth mentioning that Contini Pharmaceutical submitted applications to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange three times on April 8, 2019, November 1, 2019, and February 28, 2022, with CICC serving as its exclusive sponsor. The CSRC pointed out in the notice that from the date of issuance of the filing notice to the end of this overseas issuance and listing, if there are significant events, the company should report through the China Securities Regulatory Commission's filing management information system in accordance with relevant regulations for domestic companies' overseas issuance and listing. At the same time, within 15 working days after the completion of the overseas issuance and listing, the company should report the issuance and listing situation through the China Securities Regulatory Commission's filing management information system. The company should strictly implement the commitments and strictly comply with relevant laws, regulations, and rules both domestically and internationally during the overseas issuance and listing process. If the company fails to complete the overseas issuance and listing within 12 months from the date of this filing notice and intends to continue the process, it should update the filing materials. According to the prospectus, Contini Pharmaceutical is a leading commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company specialized in the research, development, and commercialization of innovative drugs for organ fibrosis, with a history of 20 years. It has long been focused on idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and has gradually expanded its therapeutic and research activities to other organ fibrosis areas. Its flagship product, Esiray (pirfenidone capsules), was approved in China in 2011 and is one of the first three drugs approved globally for the treatment of IPF. Since then, the company has developed a drug pipeline that includes four other innovative candidate drugs. The company collaborates with CRO partners in the development and production of certain candidate drugs for preclinical and clinical trials. In 2019, 2020, and the nine months ended September 30, 2021, the company collaborated with three, eight, and eleven CROs (all located in China), respectively. The company also collaborates with a CRO specializing in conducting Phase III clinical trials for F351. In 2019, 2020, and the nine months ended September 30, 2021, the company collaborated with 42, 37, and 40 principal investigators, respectively, to conduct clinical trials for candidate drugs.