Pharmaceutical Business in China and Worldwide (May)

1. On May 8, BlissBio announced that it had reached a clinical trial cooperation agreement with Eisai on BB-1701 with strategic cooperation option. BB-1701, an ADC combined with anti-HER2 antibody and Eribulin developed by BlissBio, is intended to treat patients with advanced and metastatic HER2 positive solid tumors. For example, if Eisai exercises the option of BB-1701 strategic cooperation, BlissBio will get the corresponding exercise payment, and the development and commercialization milestone payment of up to US$2 billion in total, as well as the sales share.

2. On May 8, Chance Pharmaceuticals and AcordaTherapeutics announced that they had reached a cooperation on the clinical application of Levodopa Inhalation Powder (brand name: Inbrija) in Greater China (Chinese mainland, Hongkong, Macau and Taiwan Province). Inbrija has been approved for marketing in US and the EU for the intermittent treatment during OFFepisodes on adult patients with Parkinson's disease who are receiving levodopa-dopa decarboxylase inhibitors.

3. On May 8, Luzhu Biotech officially listed on the HKEX. According to prospectus, Luzhu Biotech disclosed the investors before the sale for the first time, including Beijing Yizhuang, Beijing Yizhuang Phase II, Beijing Science Sun, CCB International Capital, Jinjiang Zhenrui, Jinjiang Xuanhong and Zhuhai Livzon, etc. At present, Luzhu Biotech's pipelines under research cover products such as vaccine, monoclonal antibody under research and bispecific antibody, including 3 clinical products and 4 preclinical products.

4. On May 9, Zion Pharma announced that it had reached an agreement with Roche on the global rights and interests of ZN-A-1041. ZN-A-1041 is an oral selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting HER2, with a high blood-brain barrier permeability. Roche will pay Zion Pharma a down payment of US$70 million and a recent milestone payment, the development and commercialization milestone payment of up to US$610 million, and a gradient share based on global annual net sales in the future. 

5. On May 15, Gilead Sciences and Arcus jointly announced that they will strengthen R&D cooperation on inflammatory diseases. Gilead Sciences will get the early option of exclusive licensing of candidate drugs for up to four inflammatory disease targets, and will pay Arcus an option fee and milestone payment which may be as high as US$1 billion.

6. On May 30, Betta Pharmaceuticals announced that it had reached a cooperation with C4 Therapeutics to introduce CFT8919 project. According to the agreement, Betta will pay C4 US$35 million in the early stage, the milestone payment of up to US$357 million and the agreed sales commission of CFT8919 in the authorized area. CFT8919 is an allosteric BiDAC degradation agent with an oral bioavailability, with a good activity and selectivity for carrying EGFR L858R mutation. 

Listing 

HKEX

1. On May 30, the official website of HKEX showed that HighTide Therapeutics, Inc. has submitted an IPO application which has been accepted. HighTide Therapeutics, Inc. was found in 2011, and Liu Liping is its founder and CEO. At present, two products in the HighTide's product pipeline have entered the clinical development stage, namely oral multifunctional small molecule drug HTD1801 and TLR4 inhibitor HTD4010. 

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.