• Novel Anti-tumor Immune Redirection Virus-inspired Particle (AIR-ViP) cancer immunotherapies initially to be developed by VerImmune Inc.
• Fosun Pharma to lead clinical development and commercialization in the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau Special Administration Region and Taiwan Region.
• For AIR-ViP product candidate, VERI-101, VerImmune is eligible for up to $125M in total upfront and milestone payments plus tiered royalties up to the low double digits on net sales in the specified territories.
• VerImmune is also eligible for additional milestone payments and tiered royalties subject to Fosun Pharma’s exercise of its option to select other AIR-ViP product candidates.
Fosun Pharma USA, the US-based subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd. (“Fosun Pharma”, Stock Code: 600196.SH, 02196.HK), a global pharmaceutical and healthcare industry group deep-rooted in China, and VerImmune Inc. (“VerImmune”), a privately-held biotechnology company developing a novel therapeutic Virus-Inspired Particle (ViP) modality that redirects the body’s pre-existing immunity against viral pathogens to attack cancer, announced today that the companies have entered into an Exclusive License and Option agreement effective May 18, 2022.
Under the terms of the agreement, VerImmune has granted Fosun Pharma an exclusive license to VerImmune’s lead AIR-ViP product candidate, VERI-101, with an option to license certain potential future AIR-ViP products arising from the development of VerImmune’s VERI-101 pipeline for the territory of Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Macau Special Administration Regions and Taiwan Region. Fosun Pharma will be responsible for all clinical development and commercialization in these territories.
VerImmune is eligible to receive up to $125M in total upfront and milestone payments plus tiered royalties up to the low double digits on net sales of VERI-101 in specified territories. Subject to Fosun Pharma’s exercise of its option to select future AIR-ViP product candidates, VerImmune is eligible to receive additional milestone payments and royalties on net sales for each additional product candidate.
“The field of cancer immunotherapy is the frontier of current biomedical research, and it is also one of the key directions of Fosun Pharma’s strategic layout.” commented Wu Yifang, Chairman and CEO of Fosun Pharma. “We are pleased to partner with VerImmune to bring such a promising immunotherapy to China, and hope the cutting-edge biotherapeutic technologies and products can benefit more patients in China.”
“Cancer is a global unmet medical need and thus we are very excited to be working with the Fosun Pharma companies to bring our novel lead AIR-ViP immunotherapeutic products to China. Fosun Pharma has both the expertise and access to reach these fast-growing markets and we hope to benefit more Chinese patients and the region through our cooperation” said Joshua Wang, Ph.D., VerImmune Founder and CEO.VerImmune’s core technology is an innovative Virus-inspired Particle (ViP) platform technology that can be used as a delivery system to attack cancer. Building upon this highly adaptable ViP platform, VerImmune has developed a First-in-Class novel therapeutic strategy called “Anti-tumor Immune Redirection” (AIR). This approach uses the ViP platform (now termed AIR-ViP) to redirect natural pre-existing immunity from past viral infections or childhood vaccinations to target cancer.