SHANGHAI, China, Sept. 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Junshi Biosciences (HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180), a leading innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies, announced today that it has recently entered into a global development, manufacturing and commercialization collaboration with Wigen Biomedicine, a biomedical high-tech company committed to research and development of innovative drugs and new technologies, for Wigen?s 4 cancer drug candidates (XPO1 inhibitor, Aurora-A inhibitor, EGFR-exon20 inhibitor, and 4^th?generation EGFR inhibitor).

Under the agreement, Wigen Biomedicine will transfer its 50% interest in four of its self-developed drug projects (project code: WJ1024/WJ1075 (either one to be selected by Junshi Biosciences), WJ05129, APL1898, and WJ13404) to Junshi Biosciences. Junshi Biosciences will be granted the world-wide exclusive rights for production and commercialization for these drugs. Junshi Biosciences and Wigen Biomedicine will jointly facilitate the pre-clinical research work of the above drugs in accordance with the agreement. Junshi Biosciences will be responsible for clinical trial applications. Matters such as follow-up clinical trials, drug registration applications and marketing authorization will be determined by the joint steering committee, which is jointly established by both companies. Junshi Biosciences will pay Wigen Biomedicine an upfront fee of RMB 36 million. Wigen Biomedicine is also eligible to receive milestone payments up to RMB 436 million in aggregate, based on the R&D and commercialization progress, and 50% of net profits.

?Wigen Biomedicine is a dynamic and emerging local pharmaceutical technology company. Its idea of focusing on domestic innovative drug development coincides with ours,? said Dr. Li Ning, CEO of Junshi Biosciences. ?At present, we have 24 drug candidates in our pipeline. The vast majority of them are innovative drugs, with quite a few having the potential to be first-in-class globally. The collaboration with Wigen will once again expand and strengthen our product layout in oncology, covering even more tumor types. We look forward to working with our partners to bring world-class, trustworthy innovative drugs to patients.?

?As an innovative biomedical company with R&D as its core competency, we must focus on our areas of expertise as well as seek external collaboration. Junshi is a well-known innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company in our industry. Its first domestically produced anti-PD-1 antibody drug, Toripalimab, has been approved and has excellent clinical performance. We believe in Junshi's rich drug development expertise and commercialization experience complement with our company?s focus on small molecule drug research and development. The collaboration will accelerate our clinical development," commented Dr. Xie Yuli, CEO of Wigen Biomedicine.

About WJ1024/WJ1075 WJ1024/WJ1075 (either one to be selected by the Company) is an oral broad-spectrum anti-tumor small molecule drug, designed and developed based on the characteristics of covalent inhibitors, which inhibits XPO1 protein with fast metabolism. It can be used clinically for the treatment of a variety of hematological and solid tumors.

About WJ05129 WJ05129 is an oral small molecule Aurora A inhibitor. Aurora A inhibition and RB1 deletion or inactivation are synthetically lethal, which can be used for the treatment of small cell lung cancer, triple negative breast cancer and other malignant tumors with RB1 deletion or inactivation.

About APL1898 APL1898 is a targeted small molecule inhibitor that effectively inhibits EGFR exon20 insertion mutants. Preclinical data show that the drug maintains the activity of inhibiting common EGFR mutants such as T790M while overcoming insensitivity of the third-generation EGFR inhibitors to exon20 insertion mutants.

About WJ13404 WJ13404 is an effective fourth-generation EGFR inhibitor. Preclinical data show that the drug has good inhibitory activity towards acquired EGFR mutants insensitive to the third-generation inhibitors including Del19/T790M/C797S and L858R/T790M/C797S, and is highly selective against wild-type EGFR.

About Wigen Biomedicine Wigen Biomedicine is a biomedical high-tech company committed to research and development of innovative drugs and new technologies. Its pipeline covers anti-tumor, immunity, metabolism and other therapeutic areas. It has a research and development team of over 40 members, with all core members having doctoral degrees and extensive experience in drug R&D. At present, Wigen Biomedicine has 18 drug candidates and has applied for 24 new drug invention patents.

About Junshi Biosciences Founded in December 2012, Junshi Biosciences (HK: 1877; SH: 688180) is an innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics. The company has established a diversified R & D pipeline comprising 26 innovative drug candidates and 2 biosimilars, with five therapeutic focus areas covering cancer, autoimmune, metabolic, neurologic, and infectious diseases. Junshi Biosciences was the first Chinese pharmaceutical company that obtained marketing approval for PD-1 monoclonal antibody in China and clinical trial application approval for anti PCSK9 monoclonal antibody from NMPA. The world?s first in human anti-BTLA antibody for solid tumors was officially approved for clinical trials by the FDA and NMPA. From this year onwards, Junshi Biosciences pooled its efforts with Chinese science institutions to co-develop JS016, China?s first neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies against SARS-Cov-2, that has entered clinical trial, part of our continuous innovation for disease control and prevention in China and beyond. We have about 2,000 employees in San Francisco and across Maryland in the United States, as well as Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing, and Guangzhou, China. For more information, please visit:?http://junshipharma.com.