Shanghai, China, September 16, 2020 -- Junshi Biosciences (HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180), a leading innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies, announced today that it has recently entered into a global development, manufacturing and commercialization collaboration with Wigen Biomedicine, a biomedical high-tech company committed to research and development of innovative drugs and new technologies, for Wigen’s 4 cancer drug candidates (XPO1 inhibitor, Aurora-A inhibitor, EGFR-exon20 inhibitor, and 4th generation EGFR inhibitor).
Under the agreement, Wigen Biomedicine will transfer its 50% interest in four of its self-developed drug projects (project code: WJ1024/WJ1075 (either one to be selected by Junshi Biosciences), WJ05129, APL1898, and WJ13404) to Junshi Biosciences. Junshi Biosciences will be granted the world-wide exclusive rights for production and commercialization for these drugs. Junshi Biosciences and Wigen Biomedicine will jointly facilitate the pre-clinical research work of the above drugs in accordance with the agreement. Junshi Biosciences will be responsible for clinical trial applications. Matters such as follow-up clinical trials, drug registration applications and marketing authorization will be determined by the joint steering committee, which is jointly established by both companies. Junshi Biosciences will pay Wigen Biomedicine an upfront fee of RMB 36 million. Wigen Biomedicine is also eligible to receive milestone payments up to RMB 436 million in aggregate, based on the R&D and commercialization progress, and 50% of net profits.
“Wigen Biomedicine is a dynamic and emerging local pharmaceutical technology company. Its idea of focusing on domestic innovative drug development coincides with ours,” said Dr. Li Ning, CEO of Junshi Biosciences. “At present, we have 24 drug candidates in our pipeline. The vast majority of them are innovative drugs, with quite a few have the potential to be first-in-class globally. The collaboration with Wigen will once again expand and strengthen our product layout in oncology, covering even more tumor types. We look forward to working with our partners to bring world-class, trustworthy innovative drugs to patients.”
“As an innovative biomedical company with R&D as its core competency, we must focus on our areas of expertise as well as seek external collaboration. Junshi is a well-known innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company in our industry. Its first domestically produced anti-PD-1 antibody drug, Toripalimab, has been approved and has excellent clinical performance. We believe in Junshi's rich drug development expertise and commercialization experience complement with our company’s focus on small molecule drug research and development. The collaboration will accelerate our clinical development," commented Dr. Xie Yuli, CEO of Wigen Biomedicine.