China-based pharmaceutical company Huadong Medicine Co., Ltd (SHE: 000963) has entered into a licensing agreement with Beijing-based gene therapy specialist Immunochina Pharmaceuticals. The agreement grants Huadong exclusive commercialization rights to Immunochina’s IM19, a promising CD19-targeted autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, within mainland China. Huadong will make an upfront payment of RMB 125 million (USD 17.5 million) and is further committed to potential milestone payments of up to RMB 950 million (USD 133 million) tied to regulatory and sales achievements.
IM19 has already received clinical trial approvals in China for the treatment of relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (r/r-DLBCL), acute B-cell leukemia (B-ALL), and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), with all indications currently in late-stage clinical trials. Notably, the Phase II confirmatory study for IM19 in last-line DLBCL is nearing completion, having shown promising clinical efficacy and safety, which could lead to a market filing in the fourth quarter of this year.- Flcube.com
