Akeso Inc. Published 2023 Interim Results Positive Profit Alert

HONG KONG, July 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Akeso Inc. ("Akeso", the "Company"; 9926.HK), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing first-in-class and best-in-class innovative medicines globally, today announced that it is expected that the Company will record a profit of not less than RMB2.3 billion for the six months ended June 30, 2023. This is the first time for the Company to achieve half-year profits.

The turnaround from loss to profit during the Reporting Period was mainly attributable to:

• In respect of Ivonescimab (AK112, PD-1/VEGF) independently developed by the Company, the Company has entered into the collaborative and licensing agreement with Summit Therapeutics (details of which are set out in the announcement of the Company dated December 6, 2022). The Company has received the total upfront payment equivalent to US$500 million in full during the first quarter of 2023 (details of which are set out in the announcements of the Company dated January 26, 2023 and March 6, 2023). Part of such upfront payment was recognized as licensing fee income which significantly contributed to the revenue of the Company for the Reporting Period, and amounted to approximately RMB2.9 billion. The revenue recognition of the remaining portion of the upfront payment will be recognized as revenue in batches going forward.
• In respect of the Company's innovative product 开坦尼® (cadonilimab, PD-1/CTLA-4), since its launch in June 2022, it has recorded significant increase of the patients as well as product sales, which reflects the excellent clinical value of cadonilimab. In addition, 安尼可®(penpulimab, PD-1) also continued to contribute to the growth in the Company's product sales revenue during the Reporting Period.
• The Company has continued to optimise its cost management capabilities in a scientific and efficient way and has achieved better results in cost control while accelerating innovative products development and pipelines advancement.

About Akeso

Akeso (HKEX: 09926) is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to the discovery, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of innovative medicines with high unmet medical needs worldwide. Founded in 2012, the Company has established a comprehensive in-house drug development platform (ACE Platform) and know-how, including R&D, clinical development, CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls), and commercialization capabilities.

With fully integrated multi-functional platform, Akeso is internally working on a robust pipeline of over 30 innovative assets in the fields of cancer, autoimmune disease, inflammation, metabolic disease, and other major therapeutic areas. 19 assets have entered clinical stage. Leveraging in-house developed bispecific platform technology ("Tetrabody technology"), the Company has advanced four potential first-in-class bispecific antibody drugs into market or clinical development, including cadonilimab (PD-1/CTLA-4), ivonescimab (PD-1/VEGF), PD-1/LAG-3, TIGIT/TGF-Beta bispecific antibodies. In June 2022, cadonilimab was approved by the NMPA and became the first commercialized PD-1 based bispecific drug globally. Another Akeso internally discovered and developed oncology product, penpulimab (a PD-1 antibody), was granted marketing approval in China in August 2021. In December 2022, the Company out-licensed breakthrough bispecific antibody, ivonescimab (PD-1/VEGF bi-specific antibody, AK112), with up to US$5 Billion total potential deal value to Summit Therapeutics for development and commercialization in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Japan.