{"id":97421,"date":"2026-07-04T19:27:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T19:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/97421\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T19:27:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T19:27:28","slug":"fosun-pays-32m-to-join-lilly-and-novartis-in-fiercely-competitive-psoriasis-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/97421\/","title":{"rendered":"Fosun pays $32M to join Lilly and Novartis in fiercely competitive psoriasis market"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">A Fosun Pharma subsidiary has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.globenewswire.com\/news-release\/2026\/07\/02\/3321058\/0\/en\/junshi-biosciences-enters-licensing-collaboration-with-fosun-wanbang-on-roconkibart-il-17a.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">paid<\/a> Junshi Biosciences 215 million yuan ($32 million) for Chinese rights to a near-approval autoimmune disease drug.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The deal grants the wholly owned subsidiary, Fosun Wanbang Pharmaceutical, rights to roconkibart in Greater China. Roconkibart is an anti-IL-17A antibody that Junshi has developed in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. A Chinese phase 3 trial of the candidate, which is also called JS005,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fiercebiotech.com\/biotech\/junshi-heralds-phase-3-psoriasis-win-il-17-drug-prepares-push-chinese-regulators\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hit<\/a> its primary endpoint, leading Junshi to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.globenewswire.com\/news-release\/2025\/12\/05\/3200830\/0\/en\/junshi-biosciences-announces-acceptance-of-the-nda-for-roconkibart-il-17a-for-the-treatment-of-moderate-to-severe-plaque-psoriasis.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">apply<\/a> for approval in its home market last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Fosun Wanbang has stepped in to develop, register and commercialize the asset in Greater China under an exclusive license. The deal also gives the company a co-exclusive license to manufacture the product in Greater China.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Fosun subsidiary is paying the upfront fee, committing up to 1.12 billion yuan ($166 million) in milestones and agreeing to pay double-digit tiered royalties on net sales for the rights. The milestones are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www1.hkexnews.hk\/listedco\/listconews\/sehk\/2026\/0701\/2026070100157.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">split<\/a> (PDF) between 180 million yuan ($27 million) tied to product development and 945 million yuan ($139 million) based on sales.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Fosun Wanbang will enter a competitive market. Novartis\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.novartis.com\/news\/media-releases\/novartis-first-class-cosentyx-approved-china-psoriasis-patients\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">won<\/a> approval for its IL-17A inhibitor Cosentyx in plaque psoriasis in China in 2019. Since then, the list of IL-17A drugs approved for psoriasis in China has grown to include Eli Lilly\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s12325-024-03030-5#:~:text=IXE%20has%20received%20approval%20for%20the%20treatment%20of%20moderate%2Dto%2Dsevere%20psoriasis%20in%20China%20and%20is%20included%20in%20the%20guidelines%20of%20the%20Chinese%20Society%20of%20Dermatology%20as%20a%20recommended%20biologic%20treatment\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Taltz<\/a>, Suzhou Suncadia Biopharmaceutical\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/39497021\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">vunakizumab<\/a>, Genrix Biopharmaceutical\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/english.nmpa.gov.cn\/2025-02\/19\/c_1073595.htm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">xeligekimab<\/a>, UCB\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bioraypharm.com\/index.php?m=content&amp;a=index&amp;classid=40&amp;id=214\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bimzelx<\/a> and Akeso\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.akesobio.com\/en\/media\/akeso-news\/260611\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">gumokimab<\/a>. CSPC Pharmaceutical recently\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/doc.irasia.com\/listco\/hk\/cspc\/announcement\/a260618a.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">won<\/a> (PDF) approval for a Cosentyx biosimilar.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Roconkibart is unlikely to be the last IL-17A inhibitor that Chinese authorities approve in the indication. Livzon Pharmaceutical\u2019s lecankitug, which like Bimzelx targets IL-17A and IL-17F,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www1.hkexnews.hk\/listedco\/listconews\/sehk\/2026\/0324\/2026032401308.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">beat<\/a> (PDF) Cosentyx in a head-to-head psoriasis trial and is under review in China.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Fosun Wanbang will enter the fight for market share equipped with phase 3 data showing 91% of people on roconkibart had at least a 90% improvement in symptoms after 16 weeks. By Week 52, 65% of people had a 100% improvement. The data are in line with results for Akeso\u2019s recently approved gumokimab, which achieved a 100% improvement in 68.9% of patients at Week 52.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Fosun Pharma subsidiary has\u00a0paid Junshi Biosciences 215 million yuan ($32 million) for Chinese rights to a near-approval&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[127],"tags":[1115,351,3772,9275,4312,48407,41515,206,48408],"class_list":["post-97421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-novartis","tag-biotech","tag-china","tag-deals","tag-fierce-biotech-homepage","tag-fosun-pharma","tag-junshi-biosciences","tag-licensing-deals","tag-novartis","tag-psoriasis"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116863359056243626","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}