Polyphor and Fosun Pharma announce exclusive licensing agreement for balixafortide in China

Polyphor AG / Key word(s): Alliance

31-Aug-2020 / 07:00 CET/CEST
Release of an ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 KR
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Allschwil, Switzerland and Shanghai, China, August 31, 2020

Polyphor and Fosun Pharma announce exclusive licensing agreement for balixafortide in China

- Fosun Pharma to lead clinical development and commercialization of balixafortide in metastatic breast cancer and potentially other cancers in China

- Polyphor to receive USD 15 million upfront payment, development milestone payments of up to USD 19 million, sales milestone payments of up to USD 148 million, and royalties on sales

Polyphor AG (SIX: POLN) and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co. Ltd, through its Swiss affiliate Fosun Pharmaceutical AG announced today that they have entered into an exclusive licensing agreement for balixafortide in China.

Under the terms of the agreement, Polyphor and Fosun Pharma will develop and commercialize balixafortide for the Chinese market with an initial focus on metastatic breast cancer. China is projected to be the second largest market globally for breast cancer treatments. Additional cancer indications and combination therapies will be evaluated jointly by the companies. Polyphor retains all rights to balixafortide outside of China.

As part of the agreement, Polyphor will receive a USD 15 million upfront payment, is eligible for additional development milestone payments of up to USD 19 million, sales milestone payments of up to USD 148 million, and royalties on sales. The agreed upon royalty rates start in the low double digits and increase to the mid-teens based on net sales achieved in the territory.

Fosun Pharmaceutical AG is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co. Ltd ("Fosun Pharma", stock code: 600196.SH; 02196.HK), a leading healthcare company in China. It is listed on both the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

"This agreement between Polyphor and Fosun Pharma represents an important next milestone for the development and commercialization of balixafortide, and is a strong validation from a leading innovative Chinese healthcare company," says Gokhan Batur, CEO of Polyphor. "Fosun Pharma's proven expertise to develop and commercialize oncology treatments in China, as well as their research and development capabilities to expand into additional cancer indications, make them the ideal partner for us."

"We are pleased to partner with Polyphor to bring balixafortide to China to benefit patients with metastatic breast cancer in China," says Wu Yifang, President and CEO of Fosun Pharma. "Polyphor is a leading company in the field of oncology and antimicrobial resistance, with a leading technology platform for macrocyclic peptides. The collaboration will enrich Fosun Pharma's pipeline in the field of oncology and provide more treatment options for the unmet clinical needs of the market."

Balixafortide is a potent and highly selective blocker of CXCR4 and is currently the only CXCR4 antagonist in Phase 3 development for a solid tumor. CXCR4 plays a key role in tumor growth, invasion, angiogenesis, metastasis and resistance to therapeutics. CXCR4 overexpression correlates with poor prognosis in many cancer subtypes. CXCR4 antagonism was shown to change tumor-stromal interactions, sensitize cancer cells to cytotoxic drugs, and reduce tumor growth and metastatic burden. The mechanism of action includes immune cell trafficking, tumor infiltration and activation of immune cells (tumor cell elimination), and reduction in immunosuppressive cells in the tumor microenvironment. Based on these multifaceted modes of action, it is suggested that CXCR4 antagonism could play a crucial role in a range of therapies including chemotherapy and immunotherapies. Balixafortide is currently being evaluated in the pivotal study FORTRESS (POL6326-009) which is an international, multicenter, randomized active-controlled, open-label Phase III trial which will investigate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of intravenous balixafortide given with eribulin versus eribulin alone in the treatment of HER2 negative, locally recurrent or metastatic breast cancer.

For further information please contact:

Polyphor

For Investors:
Hernan Levett
Chief Financial Officer
Polyphor Ltd.
Tel: +41 61 567 16 00
Email: IR@polyphor.com

For Media:
Stephan Feldhaus
Feldhaus & Partner GmbH
Tel: +41 79 865 92 56
Email: feldhaus@feldhaus-partner.ch

Fosun Pharma

Media Relations:
Barney Liu
Deputy Director of Media and Public Relations
Tel: +86 21 3398 7123
E-mail: liumingyi@fosunpharma.com

About Polyphor
Polyphor is a research-driven clinical-stage, Swiss biopharmaceutical company committed to discovering and developing first-in-class molecules in oncology and antimicrobial resistance leveraging the company's leading macrocyclic peptide technology platform. Polyphor is advancing balixafortide (POL6326) in a Phase III trial in combination with eribulin in patients with advanced breast cancer and exploring its potential in other cancer indications. In addition, it has discovered and is developing the Outer Membrane Protein Targeting Antibiotics (OMPTA). OMPTA are potentially the first new class of antibiotics in clinical development in the last 50 years against Gram-negative bacteria. The company's lead OMPTA program is an inhaled formulation of murepavadin for the treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in patients with cystic fibrosis. Polyphor is based in Allschwil near Basel and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: POLN). For more information, please visit www.polyphor.com.

About Fosun Pharma
Founded in 1994, Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd. ("Fosun Pharma"; stock code: 600196.SH, 02196.HK) is a leading healthcare group in China. Fosun Pharma has built a strong root in China and developed a global operation strategy, with pharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D being the largest and core business segment, together with strong presences in medical devices and diagnostics, healthcare services, pharmaceutical distribution and retail. With R&D innovation as core driving factor, Fosun Pharma continues to optimize its pharmaceutical operations across both innovative and generic drugs. The company has established international R&D centers for excellence in areas such as innovative small molecule drugs, high-value generic drugs, biologics, and cell-therapy. Under guidance of our 4IN strategy (Innovation, Internationalization, Integration and Intelligentization), Fosun Pharma follows the brand concept of Innovation for Good Health and strives to be a leading enterprise in the global pharmaceutical and healthcare markets. For more information on the company: www.fosunpharma.com.

Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current assumptions and forecasts of the Polyphor management. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors could lead to material differences between the forward-looking statements made here and the actual development, in particular Polyphor's results, financial situation, and performance. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only of the date of this communication. Polyphor disclaims any intention or obligation to update and revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.