CStone Pharmaceuticals (HKG: 2616) has confirmed media reports regarding the dismissal of its sales team for Gavreto (pralsetinib), marking a significant shift in the Chinese company’s commercial strategy for its first product to reach the market. Gavreto, which was licensed to Allist Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd in November 2023, did not make it into the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) after failing the NRDL preliminary formality examination.
Originally in-licensed from US-based Blueprint Medicines in June 2018, Gavreto is a once-daily, highly selective RET inhibitor. It has been approved in China for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with RET gene fusion-positive who have previously received platinum-containing chemotherapy, adults with advanced or metastatic RET mutant medullary thyroid cancer (MTC), and children aged 12 and above requiring systemic treatment. It is also approved for adults with advanced or metastatic RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer and children aged 12 and above who are refractory to radioactive iodine treatment. The drug is registered in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the US, and the EU, among other markets.
CStone has opted not to build a full commercial team for its products, a strategy evident in its 2020 partnership with Pfizer, which granted the US pharmaceutical giant exclusive commercialization rights to sugemalimab, CStone’s in-house developed PD-L1 inhibitor.- Fineline.com
