On 21
June 2021, China Medical System Holdings Limited (“CMS”, together with its
subsidiaries, the “Group”) entered into a supplementary agreement with the
innovative biotech company Trinomab Biotech Co., Ltd. (“Trinomab”). Trinomab
will contribute the related technologies of the second innovative product — Fully
Human Anti-human Cytomegalovirus Monoclonal Antibody regarding its rights and
interests in Mainland China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macau
Special Administrative Region and Taiwan as intangible assets to the joint
venture that will be established by the Group and Trinomab. The collaboration
will further enrich the Group’s innovative drug portfolio and reinforce the
Group’s innovative capabilities.
In
April this year, the Group announced that it would make equity investment in
and establish a joint venture with Trinomab, which initiated a new model for
the Group’s industrial investment in innovative biotech companies. Trinomab’s
natural fully human monoclonal antibody R&D integrated technology platform
and the Group’s capabilities in clinical development and commercialization will
complement each other, enabling the strategic alliance of innovation and
commercialization capabilities, and accelerating the process from discovery and
clinical development, to commercialization of innovative drugs.
Fully Human Anti- human Cytomegalovirus Monoclonal
Antibody
Fully Human Anti-human Cytomegalovirus
(HCMV) Monoclonal Antibody is developed
via Trinomab’s platform HitmAb® and currently in the preclinical
stage. The greatest feature of the natural fully human monoclonal antibodies
developed by HitmAb® is its high safety, having broad spectrum to
foreign pathogens and strong affinity with pathogen targets, which can solve
the problem of anti-drug antibody reaction in the clinical use of antibody
drugs developed by traditional technologies.
HCMV infection
is prevalent in the human population. Domestic research shows the seropositive
rate of HCMV in Chinese adults is more than 97%. HCMV infection can cause
severe pathological damage in people with low immunity, such as newborns and organ
transplant recipients. Currently, there is no HCMV vaccine launched in the
world. Only a few antiviral drugs have been approved for the treatment of HCMV
infection. With just a single target, moderate antiviral activity, and poor
bioavailability, these drugs are easy to be resistant to or cause severe
adverse reactions. Besides, blood products such as intravenous immunoglobulin
(IVIG) and HCMV-specific immunoglobulin (IgG, not launched in China) are
approved for adjuvant prevention of HCMV in some organ transplant recipients.
The users of these blood products is restricted and with low accessibility.
Fully human anti-HCMV monoclonal
antibody has a precise mechanism of action and
excellent safety. Due to its Non-blood-derived production process, it can be
produced on a large scale under strict quality control, which can improve drug
accessibility. Once launched in the future, the product is expected to fill the
gap of HCMV monoclonal antibodies in the world, bringing an effective and safe preventative
therapy to patients.
In
addition to the two collaborative products, the Group will further negotiate
with Trinomab to promote the priority collaboration between the two parties on
other specific products, so as to promote the launch of natural full-human
monoclonal antibody drugs with good efficacy and safety in China, to benefit
more patients.