OBI Pharma Inc (浩鼎生技) has signed an agreement with Odeon Therapeutics (Hong Kong) Ltd (康騰浩諾香港生物科技) to give it the rights to two of its experimental drugs, OBI-833 and OBI-999, in China, OBI said on Tuesday.
OBI would receive US$200 million for the licensing of the cancer drugs, which includes US$12 million in newly issued Odeon shares as a signing payment, and US$188 million as development and commercialization milestone payments, the Taipei-based company said in a regulatory filing.
The drug developer would also receive double-digit percentage royalties on Odeon’s net sales of the two drugs after they are approved in China, it said.
Photo: Chen Yung-chi, Taipei Times
OBI granted Odeon exclusive rights to further develop, register and commercialize OBI-999 and OBI-833, it said, adding that the deal also includes Hong Kong and Macau.
Odeon would be responsible for all development costs, as well as subsequent regulatory and commercialization costs, it added.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission has approved the deal, OBI said.
As China’s cancer treatment market has great potential for growth, OBI and Odeon are planning to press ahead with the research and sale of the two drugs, aiming to share the commercial benefits, the filing said.
OBI-833 and OBI-999 are experimental drugs targeting Globo H, a tumor antigen that has been detected in up to 15 different cancers and has been reported to play an important role in tumor progression.
OBI-833 is a therapeutic cancer vaccine consisting of a synthetic Globo H antigen, while OBI-999 is a novel antibody drug conjugate using a Globo H antibody to target cancer cells with high Globo H expression.
“Odeon looks forward to working closely with OBI to bring these new treatment options to patients in China,” OBI chief executive officer Tim Xiao (肖汀) said in a statement.
OBI-999 has completed phase 1 trials in the US, showing excellent safety and pharmacokinetics, while OBI-333 also demonstrated great potential as an immune-oncology therapeutic vaccine, Xiao said.
OBI said that it gained local approval to conduct phase 2 clinical trial for OBI-333, expecting primary endpoint evaluation in 2024.
AI REVOLUTION: The event is to take place from Wednesday to Friday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center’s halls 1 and 2 and would feature more than 1,100 exhibitors Semicon Taiwan, an annual international semiconductor exhibition, would bring leaders from the world’s top technology firms to Taipei this year, the event organizer said. The CEO Summit is to feature nine global leaders from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), Applied Materials Inc, Google, Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc, Microsoft Corp, Interuniversity Microelectronic Centre and Marvell Technology Group Ltd, SEMI said in a news release last week. The top executives would delve into how semiconductors are positioned as the driving force behind global technological innovation amid the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, the organizer said. Among them,
When she was in fifth grade, Scarlett Goddard Strahan started to worry about getting wrinkles. By the time she turned 10, she and her friends were spending hours on ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok and Google’s YouTube watching influencers tout products for achieving today’s beauty aesthetic: a dewy, “glowy,” flawless complexion. Goddard Strahan developed an elaborate skin care routine with facial cleansers, mists, hydrating masks and moisturizers. One night, her skin began to burn intensely and erupted in blisters. Heavy use of adult-strength products had wreaked havoc on her skin. Months later, patches of tiny bumps remain on her face, and her cheeks turn
Demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips should spur growth for the semiconductor industry over the next few years, the CEO of a major supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) said, dismissing concerns that investors had misjudged the pace and extent of spending on AI. While the global chip market has grown about 8 percent annually over the past 20 years, AI semiconductors should grow at a much higher rate going forward, Scientech Corp (辛耘) chief executive officer Hsu Ming-chi (許明琪) told Bloomberg Television. “This booming of the AI industry has just begun,” Hsu said. “For the most prominent
Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday warned against the tendency to label stakeholders as either “pro-China” or “pro-US,” calling such rigid thinking a “trap” that could impede policy discussions. Liu, an adviser to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee, made the comments in his keynote speech at the committee’s first advisers’ meeting. Speaking in front of Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) and other officials, Liu urged the public to be wary of falling into the “trap” of categorizing people involved in discussions into either the “pro-China” or “pro-US” camp. Liu,
RSS