Chengdu Kanghua Biological Products Co., Ltd (SHE: 300841), a biopharmaceutical company based in China, has entered into a licensing agreement with HilleVax Inc. (NASDAQ: HLVX), granting the US firm exclusive rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize Kanghua’s recombinant hexavalent norovirus vaccine on a worldwide basis, excluding the Greater China region which includes mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
According to the terms of the agreement, Kanghua is anticipated to receive a total of up to USD 270.5 million. This includes a USD 15 million upfront payment, USD 100.5 million in development milestone payments, and USD 155 million in marketing milestones. Additionally, Kanghua will receive single-digit royalties based on annual net sales.
HilleVax, which has its own virus-like particles (VLPs)-based vaccine candidate HIL-214, is currently conducting a Phase II clinical study in the US for the prevention of moderate-to-severe acute gastroenteritis (AGE) caused by norovirus infection. Kanghua’s vaccine, also utilizing VLPs technology, targets six major epidemic genotypes of norovirus, aiming to prevent norovirus infection and the acute gastroenteritis it causes. The vaccine has already obtained clinical trial approvals in the US and Australia. Notably, there is currently no norovirus vaccine available on the commercial market globally.- Flcube.com
