Beijing News (Reporter Wang Kala) On the evening of September 13, Fosun Pharmaceutical announced that its holding subsidiary, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Development Co., Ltd., plans to pay 27 million US dollars in cash to acquire 50% of the equity in Fosun Kite Biotechnology Co., Ltd. held by Kite Pharma (a subsidiary of Gilead Sciences). After the completion of this transfer, Fosun Pharmaceutical will hold 100% of the equity in Fosun Kite and plans to make a capital increase of 10 million US dollars or equivalent RMB as the sole shareholder.
In order to continue advancing the existing product licensing cooperation after the termination of the original joint venture contract, on the same day as the signing of the "Equity Transfer Agreement," Fosun Kite and Kite Pharma comprehensively revised and restated the original licensing agreement, reaching a new licensing agreement. Accordingly, Fosun Kite obtained exclusive rights from Kite Pharma to develop, manufacture, and commercialize Yikaida (Axicabtagene Ciloleucel Injection) and Brexu-Cel (Fosun Kite's R&D project FKC889) within the region (mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao) and field (cancer treatment).
Fosun Kite, established in 2017 through a joint investment by Fosun Pharmaceutical and Kite Pharma, is primarily engaged in the research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of tumor immunotherapy cell treatment products. Since its inception, Fosun Kite has introduced and facilitated the approval and market launch of Yikaida, the first CAR-T product in China, which also became the first and currently the only CAR-T cell therapy product approved for second-line indications in China. The clinical trial application for the third indication of this drug has been approved in China, targeting adult patients with relapsed/refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Currently, this indication is in the bridging clinical trial phase in China.
After the completion of this transfer, Fosun Kite will be included in the scope of Fosun Pharmaceutical's consolidated financial statements as a subsidiary and will be renamed Fosun Kite Biotechnology Co., Ltd. It will serve as Fosun Pharmaceutical’s core platform for cell therapy technology, continuing to focus on the field of tumor immunotherapy and promoting the availability of CAR-T cell therapy products to benefit more patients. Fosun Pharmaceutical stated that, in the future, it will maintain a long-term strategic partnership with Kite Pharma through a licensing cooperation model.
Proofread by Baoqing Liu