The sun rises in the East

MerLion Pharmaceuticals Pte. Ltd. has decided that it wants to be a public company within two years and has identified Japan as the market in which it wants to debut. With the profile of a newly public Japanese biotech in mind, MerLion is filling the gaps in its value chain, including later-stage compounds, a clinical development team and a broadened pipeline.

Last week, the company announced a pair of mergers intended to fill those gaps with Combinature Biopharm AG and Athelas S.A...