Monthly News Review of PharmaSources (February) - Business

On the business, Keymed Biosciences Inc. and Lepu Biopharma jointly announced an exclusive global licensing agreement with AstraZeneca for CMG901. In terms of the listing, Kelun Pharmaceutical's subsidiary Kelun Biotech intends to go public in Hong Kong.

1. On March 1, Abbisko announced that it signed a license agreement with Allist to grant the latter an exclusive license for the research, development, manufacture, use, and sale of ABK3376, a next-generation small molecule epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI), in Greater China. Under the terms of the agreement, Allist will pay Abbisko up to US$ 187.9 million for down payments, development and sales milestone payments, and a license fee of a license commission fee for the corresponding percentage of sales volume.

2. On March 2, Debiopharm announced that it had reached an agreement with Novo Nordisk to acquire a global interest in FT-3171, without the disclosure of the exact amount. FT-3171 is a small-molecule ubiquitin-specific protease 1 (USP1) inhibitor targeting a novel DNA damage repair (DDR) pathway developed by Forma Therapeutics and is currently in the preclinical stage.

3. On February 22, Hangzhou Zhongmeihuadong Pharmaceutical Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Huadong Medicine, and SCOHIAPHARMA (Japan) jointly announced that they will expand their strategic cooperation on SCO-094 and its derivatives globally. SCO-094 is a GLP-1/GIP dual-target agonist that produces biological effects such as glucose control and weight loss by selectively activating GLP-1 receptors and GIP receptors and agonizing downstream pathways.

4. On February 23, Keymed Biosciences Inc. and Lepu Medical jointly announced that they had reached an exclusive global licensing agreement with AstraZeneca on CMG901. According to the license agreement, AstraZeneca will be responsible for the global R&D, production and commercialization of CMG901. CMG901 is the first new recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody ADC drug targeting Claudin 18.2 that has been approved for clinical trial application in both China and the United States. It is undergoing phase I clinical trials for the treatment of patients with solid tumors positive for Claudin 18.2.

5. On February 22, Kelun Pharmaceutical issued an announcement that its subsidiary Kelun Biotech submitted to the CSRC on February 15, 2023 for the IPO of overseas listed foreign shares (H shares) and listed on the main board of HKEX. The application materials have recently obtained the administrative license acceptance letter (acceptance No.: 230240) issued by the CSRC. The application materials submitted by Kelun Biotech for this issuance and listing were reviewed and confirmed by to meet the statutory form, and the CSRC decided to process the application for administrative licensing.

About  the Author:    

Caicai, a Master of Pharmacy from Shanghai Jiaotong University, used to work in the Institute of Science and Technical Information. Currently as a practitioner in the drug surveillance system, she is good at interpreting industry regulations, pharmaceutical research developments, etc.