Etana will commercialise Byvasda in Indonesia, in exchange for milestone payments, and double-digit royalties on net sales of the product
Innovent out-licenses Byvasda rights in Indonesia to Etana. (Credit: Arek Socha from Pixabay.)
Innovent Biologics has reached an agreement with PT Etana Biotechnologies Indonesia (Etana) to out-license the rights to develop and commercialise Byvasda, a biosimilar to bevacizumab, in Indonesia.
Under the terms of the agreement, Etana will commercialise Byvasda in the Indonesian market, in exchange for development and commercialisation milestone payments, along with double-digit royalties on net sales of the product.
Innovent Biologics is a biopharmaceutical firm engaged in developing, manufacturing and commercialising treatments for cancer, metabolic, autoimmune and other diseases.
Byvasda, which is commercialised under the brand name Avastin, will treat different types of malignant tumours, and specific eye disease.
Bevacizumab is indicated for cancers including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), metastatic colorectal cancer, glioblastoma, renal cell carcinoma, cervical cancer, and epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer.
Innovent has acquired the license to commercialise Byvasda in the US and Canada, from Coherus BioSciences, in January last year.
Innovent business development vice president Blake Salisbury said: “We are excited to establish a strategic collaboration with Etana.
“Following Byvasda’s breaking into the North America market in 2020, this collaboration will enable Byvasda to penetrate into a Southeast Asian market quickly and marked another solid step toward getting Innovent’s innovative portfolio into the global market.
“We are confident that pairing Etana’s commercial expertise in the local Indonesian market with Byvasda’s clinical profile will further accelerate our mission, benefitting patients globally.”
Innover said that its Byvasda is a recombinant humanised monoclonal antibody drug that targets vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), an important factor expressed by the endothelial cells in the majority of human tumours.
The drug works to inhibit the growth, proliferation and migration of vascular endothelial cells to block angiogenesis and reduce vascular permeability.
It also blocks the blood supply to tumour tissues and inhibits the proliferation and metastasis of tumour cells and inducing apoptosis in tumour cells.
Byvasda was initially approved by NMPA in China, in June last year, for the treatment of advanced NSCLC and metastatic colorectal cancer. The indication was further expanded by NMPA in December to include adult recurrent glioblastoma.
Etana co-founder and CEO Nathan Tirtana said: “We are excited to enter into the collaboration with Innovent, a premier biopharmaceutical company which has a fully-integrated multi-functional platform.
“We have been impressed with Innovent’s achievements in its innovation and globalization strategies. Through this collaboration, we hope to make Byvasda accessible to patients in Indonesia.”