Focus on Non-small Cell Lung Cancer and Hematoma
Strengthen the Overall Layout in the Field of Cancer
Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd. and SignalChem Lifesciences Corporation today announced that Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd subsidiary company Xuanzhu Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. ("Xuanzhu") and SignalChem Lifesciences Corporation ("SignalChem") have entered into an exclusive collaboration and licensing agreement for the clinical development and commercialization of SLC-391, a potent and selective AXL targeting inhibitor, in the Greater China region.
Under the terms of the agreement, Xuanzhu Biopharm will pay SignalChem an upfront fee of US$13 million. In addition, SignalChem is entitled to receive milestone payments including development, registration and commercialization, and royalities in the future. The Group will obtain the exclusive research, development, manufacture and commercialization rights for each indication of SLC-391 in the field of oncology in the Greater China region (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan).
Lung cancer is the second highest incidence type of cancer in China, of which non-small cell lung cancer NSCLC is the most common type of lung cancer, accounting for 84% of all confirmed lung cancer cases. The 5-year overall survival rate is very low, only 24%, including 61% of local non-small cell lung cancer to 6% of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. Acute myeloid leukemia AML is a refractory myeloid hematopoietic stem / progenitor cell malignant disease with high clinical recurrence rate, which is one of the most common but fatal types of leukemia. According to the statistics of American Cancer Society ACS））, there were about 60530 new leukemia cases and 23100 leukemia deaths in the United States in 2020, of which about 19,940 were new cases of AML, and about 11,180 people died of AML. In China, with the approval of targeted drugs such as BCL2 inhibitor Venclexta2020, new treatment options have been brought to patients who cannot tolerate strong induction chemotherapy. SLC-391 has a huge market potential in the clinical combination of drugs in the treatment of the above-mentioned diseases.
AXL is a member of TAM (Tyro3, AXL, Mer) family of receptor tyrosine kinases. AXL along with its ligand GAS6 (growth arrest-specific gene 6) is highly expressed and activated in many malignant tumors, such as acute myeloid leukemia, kidney, pancreatic, breast, lung and ovarian cancer, etc. As one of the crucial signaling pathways promoting tumor growth and metastasis, immune escape and drug resistance, GAS6-AXL pathway is considered to be an attractive target for cancer treatment and has attracted widespread attention.
Dr. Che Fengsheng, Chairman and Executive Director of Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group said: " The agreement with SignalChem will further advance Xuanzhu's pipeline in the solid tumor and hematoma space. The results from preclinical and phase 1 clinical development demonstates SLC-391 superiority not only as SLC-391 has prominent single-agent activities in multiple solid and hematological tumors but also can potentially be administrated with a variety of drugs under development at Xuanzhu. Both parties will use their respective resources to accelerate the clinical approval of SLC-391 in China,” said Ms. Xu Yanjun, Chairman of Xuanzhu. “Xuanzhu will continue to expand it efforts to develop and commercialize innovative drugs in the oncology field.”