SUZHOU, CHINA: Innovent Biologics, Inc. and Hutchison China MediTech Limited announced the expansion of their global collaboration agreement to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Innovent’s Tyvyt® (sintilimab injection), a fully human anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (anti-PD-1) monoclonal antibody, in combination with Chi-Med’s surufatinib, a novel inhibitor of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR), fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) and colony stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF-1R), in patients with advanced solid tumors.

The expansion builds on the existing global collaboration agreement between the two companies on sintilimab in combination with Chi-Med’s highly selective VEGFR inhibitor, fruquintinib.

The expansion of the global collaboration will allow Innovent and Chi-Med to jointly explore the potential application of Tyvyt® and surufatinib combination therapy in solid tumors with global unmet medical needs. Clinical studies with this new combination will be conducted both in the United States and in China.

The combination of Tyvyt® and surufatinib is expected to have synergistic anti-tumor effects by simultaneously targeting multiple cell types and signaling pathways in the tumor microenvironment. Preclinical studies have suggested that surufatinib is able to inhibit angiogenesis, block the accumulation of tumor associated macrophages and promote infiltration of effector T cells into tumors, all of which could contribute to improve anti-tumor activity of Tyvyt® (sintilimab injection).

“Sintilimab, co-developed by Innovent and Eli Lilly and Company, has gained broad recognition by the market, due to its profiles in safety and efficacy. Through partnership with other companies, we are exploring more sintilimab-based combination therapies. We already saw some promising results out of such combinations,” said Dr. Michael Yu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Innovent.

“We are excited to further collaborate with Chi-Med to develop the combination therapy of sintilimab and surufatinib, hoping more patients will benefit from this potential therapy globally.”

“We believe that the future of oncology treatments increasingly lies in combining therapies, utilizing multiple mechanisms of action to greatly improve the treatment of solid tumors,” said Mr. Christian Hogg, Chief Executive Officer of Chi-Med. “Our unique next-generation anti-angiogenesis VEGFR inhibitors, with high selectivity and tolerability, make them ideal candidates for combinations with immunotherapy agents such as PD-1/L1 monoclonal antibodies. Our existing collaboration with Innovent on fruquintinib is progressing well. We are excited to expand our collaboration to include surufatinib and look forward to bringing the benefits of these combined therapies to more patients in China and around the world.”

Edited by Nayyar Iqbal