HLB Completes Final Acquisition of Global Rights for Rivoceranib

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] HL Biopharma announced on the 7th that it has completed all contractual procedures for acquiring the global rights of Rivoceranib by fully paying the transfer amount to Advenchen Nanjing, the global patent holder of Rivoceranib, and SFFT Developing (Hangzhou Yongwei Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd.), the Chinese patent holder, on the 4th.

The negotiations, which began in October last year, were concluded after 1 year and 2 months. Advenchen Nanjing and SFFT Developing, the rights transfer corporations, received $15 million (approximately 16.1 billion KRW) in cash out of the total transfer amount of $42 million (approximately 45.1 billion KRW), and the remaining $27 million (approximately 29 billion KRW) was fully invested in HL Biopharma's paid-in capital increase.

An HL Biopharma official stated, “Paul Chen, the original developer of Rivoceranib, is more confident than anyone in the high potential and future value of Rivoceranib, and participated in the capital increase to be part of the birth process of a global blockbuster new drug.” The new shares will be under a one-year lock-up period.

Since its market launch in China in 2014 as a gastric cancer treatment, Rivoceranib's sales have steadily increased every year, recording approximately 350 billion KRW in sales last year alone. It is also on the verge of approval as a second-line treatment for liver cancer. Additionally, it has received approval for Phase 3 combination clinical trials for non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, and breast cancer, rapidly expanding its indications, which is expected to increase HL Biopharma's royalty income in the future.

If the global commercialization of Rivoceranib is realized during the royalty period from Hansoh Pharmaceutical, HL Biopharma will secure stable royalty income in China as well as revenue from global sales simultaneously.

HL Biopharma is currently preparing a New Drug Application (NDA) for Rivoceranib targeting advanced gastric cancer with the U.S. FDA and is conducting global clinical trials for pleural cystic carcinoma, first-line liver cancer, second-line gastric cancer, third-line colorectal cancer, and sarcoma.

In particular, it is expected to be used for terminal gastric cancer patients who have failed standard treatments, having recently received 'patient treatment use approval' in South Korea and Israel.

Gi-Hong Ahn, Vice President of HL Biopharma, said, “With the completion of the global rights transfer process for Rivoceranib, HL Biopharma's stable operating profit securing and long-term efforts to maximize corporate value have borne fruit. We will focus on the ongoing global clinical trials and approval procedures to achieve commercialization as soon as possible and do our best to bring hope to cancer patients worldwide suffering from the pain of cancer.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.