China-based Innovent Biologics, Inc. and Eli Lilly and Co. ( LLY ) announced Friday that their co-developed Tyvyt, a fully human anti-PD-1 therapeutic monoclonal antibody, has been granted approval for market authorization by the National Medical Products Administration or NMPA of China. The approval is for the treatment of patients with classical Hodgkin's lymphoma or cHL that has relapsed or refractory after two or more lines of systemic chemotherapy. The approval of Tyvyt (sintilimab injection) highlights the emergence of China in the field of Immuno-Oncology. Currently, Tyvyt is being studied in more than twenty clinical trials, including studies in first line non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer or NSCLC, first line squamous NSCLC, second line squamous NSCLC, EGFR mutant NSCLC after EGFR TKI treatment failure, first line gastric cancer, first line liver cancer, first line esophageal cancer, and second line esophageal cancer. According to Cancer Today from the WHO's International Agency for Research for Cancer, China will have about 4.28 million newly diagnosed cancer patients and 2.86 million deaths from cancer in 2018. Lilly and Innovent in March 2015 announced a biotech drug development collaboration in China. Under the deal terms, Lilly and Innovent shall collaborate on the development and potential commercialization of at least three cancer treatments over the next decade. In October 2015, they announced an expansion of their drug development collabortion. For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com