Simcere Pharmaceutical's Subsidiary Jiangsu Simcere-Zaiming Enters into Exclusive Licensing Agreement with Ipsen for LRRC15-Targeting ADC SIM0613

Intelligent Finance APP News, Simcere (02096) announced that on December 19, 2025, its subsidiary Jiangsu Simcere Zaiming Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Jiangsu Zaiming) entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Ipsen Pharma SAS (Euronext: IPN; ADR: IPSEY) (Ipsen). Under the terms of the agreement, Ipsen will obtain the global exclusive rights for the development, production, and commercialization outside of Greater China of SIM0613, an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting LRRC15, developed by Jiangsu Zaiming.

According to the terms of the agreement, the group is entitled to receive up to $1.06 billion, including a $45 million upfront payment, as well as R&D, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, and tiered sales royalties.

SIM0613 is a novel ADC targeting leucine-rich repeat-containing protein 15 (LRRC15). LRRC15 is highly expressed on the surface of various solid tumors and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), but rarely expressed in normal cells. After SIM0613 binds to LRRC15, it enters tumor cells via endocytosis and releases cytotoxic payloads, thereby killing tumor cells while having minimal impact on normal cells. Specially designed, SIM0613 can deeply penetrate tumors and cancer-associated fibroblasts, demonstrating significant tumor regression effects in various preclinical in vivo models.