Aug. 17 Quick Takes: China tools play Sangon attracts Novo Holdings in $290M round

Novo Holdings was among the investors in a $290 million financing raised by Sangon Biotech Co. Ltd., a China-based provider of life sciences tools and services including DNA synthesis, reagents and consumables, genetic sequencing, and protein and antibody-related products. Other investors in the round included GL Capital, CPE, Greenwoods Asset Management, Huagai Capital, CDB Venture and China Merchant Health. The deal coincides with an initiative from Beijing to spur foreign investment in China. 

In a ruling late Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit concluded that abortion drug mifepristone can remain on the market, but restored pre-2016 restrictions that limited its use to the first seven weeks of a pregnancy and required in-person visits to doctors. The decision is subject to a stay by the Supreme Court. When a lower district court decision in the case had invalidated mifepristone’s approval, former FDA commissioners and industry officials had filed briefs decrying the court’s attempt to overturn the agency’s scientific decision-making process...