HANSIZHUANG Sets Sail in Indonesia Market

• The 1st China anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody successfully approved in Southeast Asia -
• The 1st overseas approval of HANSIZHUANG, highlighting another major milestone of Henlius' global strategy after HANQUYOU -
• Along with KGbio and other partners to develop and launch HANSIZHUANG in over 70 countries –

SHANGHAI, Dec. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Shanghai Henlius Biotech, Inc. (2696.HK) announces that recently, PT Kalbio Global Medika, the subsidiary of Henlius' partner PT Kalbe Genexine Biologics (KGbio), has received the relevant registration certificates issued by Indonesia's National Agency for Drug and Food Control (Indonesian: Badan Pengawas Obat and Makanan, the "BPOM") for the approval of Henlius' self-developed and manufactured anti-PD-1 mAb HANSIZHUANG (serplulimab) in Indonesia under the trade name Zerpidio^® for the treatment of extensive stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). This is the first time HANSIZHUANG has been successfully approved for marketing in an overseas market, and it has become the first China anti-PD-1 mAb successfully approved for marketing in Southeast Asia. Currently, Henlius is joining hands with KGbio for the development and commercialisation in 22 countries, and the approval is expected to bring HANSIZHUANG to more patients in Indonesia.

Lung cancer (LC) is one of the most common malignancies around the world. According to GLOBOCAN 2020, there were near 35,000 new LC cases and 31,000 new deaths in 2020 worldwide, and LC is still the leading cause of cancer death ^[1]. SCLC is the most aggressive subtype of lung cancer, accounting for around 15% of all lung cancer cases ^[2]. The SCLC breaks down into limited stage small cell lung cancer (LS-SCLC) and ES-SCLC. Around 30%–40% patients are in limited stage and most patients are in extensive stage when diagnosed ^[3]. Their clinical condition deteriorates rapidly, and the overall prognosis is poor. In the past 20 years, chemotherapy such as etoposide combined carboplatin/cisplatin was still the standards of care for ES-SCLC, but almost all patients in extensive stage relapse within one year ^[4], with a median overall survival (OS) of only 10 to 11 months.

The advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors has brought new hope to patients with SCLC. The company's first innovative product, HANSIZHUANG (serplulimab), was approved in China in March 2022 and became the world's first anti-PD-1 mAb for the first-line treatment of SCLC. At present, HANSIZHUANG has been approved for 4 indications in China including MSI-H solid tumour, squamous non-small cell lung cancer (sqNSCLC), ES-SCLC, and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), benefiting over 50,000 Chinese patients. In 2022, HANSIZHUANG was successively granted orphan drug designations by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Commission (EC) for the treatment of SCLC, which will enable HANSIZHUANG to benefit from certain policy support for research and development, registration, and commercialisation in the United States (U.S.) and European Union. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has validated the application for HANSIZHUANG. The company is also steadily advancing the bridging head-to-head trial in the U.S. to compare HANSIZHUANG to standard-of-care Atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1 mAb) for the first-line treatment of ES-SCLC to propel the product towards U.S. market approval.

With its breakthrough efficacy and differentiation advantages in the relevant treatment fields, HANSIZHUANG has earned wide recognition and its pivotal clinical research results have been published in leading medical journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and Nature Medicine. Its synergy with in-house products of the company and innovative therapies are being actively promoted and over 10 clinical trials on immuno-oncology combination therapies are in progress in a wide variety of indications, such as lung cancer, esophageal carcinoma, gastric cancer, etc., covering the full range of first-line treatments of lung cancers. As of now, the company has enrolled more than 3,600 subjects globally.

In 2019, Henlius reached a collaboration agreement with KGbio, upon which KGbio is granted exclusive rights to develop and commercialize HANSIZHUANG in certain therapies in 10 ASEAN member countries. In 2023, the collaboration has been further expanded to 12 Middle East and North African (MENA) countries for two indications of HANSIZHUANG including ES-SCLC, covering a total of 22 emerging market countries. In the future, Henlius will work closely with KGbio and other global partners to promote approval of HANSIZHUANG in more countries.

About HANSIZHUANG

HANSIZHUANG (recombinant humanized anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody injection, generic name: serplulimab injection) is the first anti-PD-1 mAb for the first-line treatment of SCLC and has been approved in China and Indonesia. Up to date, 4 indications are approved for marketing, 2 marketing applications are under review in China and the EU, and more than 10 clinical trials are ongoing across the world.

HANSIZHUANG was approved in China in March 2022 and has been approved by the National Medicinal Products Administration (NMPA) for the treatment of MSI-H solid tumours, squamous non-small cell lung cancer (sqNSCLC), extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The marketing applications of the first-line treatment for non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (nsNSCLC) and ES-SCLC are under review by the NMPA and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), respectively. Focus on lung and gastrointestinal cancer, the synergy of HANSIZHUANG with in-house products of the company and innovative therapies are being actively promoted. The company has initiated more than 10 clinical trials on immuno-oncology combination therapies in a wide variety of indications with  more than 3,600 subjects enrolled in China, the U.S., Turkey, Poland, Georgia and other countries and regions. The results of 3 pivotal trials of HANSIZHUANG were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Nature Medicine, and the British Journal of Cancer, respectively. Furthermore, HANSIZHUANG was respectively recommended by the CSCO Guidelines for Small Cell Lung Cancer, the CSCO Guidelines for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, the CSCO Guidelines for Esophageal Cancer, the CSCO Guidelines for Colorectal Cancer, the CSCO Clinical Practice Guidelines on Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor, the China Guidelines for Radiotherapy of Esophageal Cancer, and other definitive guides, providing valuable references for clinical diagnosis and treatment of tumours. On the other hand, serplulimab was granted orphan drug designations by the U.S. FDA and the EC for the treatment of SCLC, and its bridging head-to-head trial in the United States to compare HANSIZHUANG to standard of care atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1 mAb) for the first-line treatment of ES-SCLC is well under way.