Apollomics has sold the rights to its lead c-MET inhibitor in Asia, excluding Greater China, to Taiwan’s LaunXP Biomedical for $10 million upfront.
The drug, called vebreltinib, has already been evaluated in a phase 2 Chinese trial of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLS) and confirmed METex14 mutation. A readout last September in patients with confirmed METex14 skipping showed an overall response rate of 66.7% and median progression-free survival of 13.8 months.
Now, LaunXP has agreed to pay $10 million in upfront cash within 60 days for the right to develop and commercialize vebreltinib in combination with an EGFR inhibitor in Asia, excluding mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. There is also $50 million in regulatory and other pre-commercial milestones tied to the deal, along with royalties on net sales.
“We are delighted to partner with LaunXP, who share our vision for the commercial opportunity for vebreltinib,” Apollomics CEO Guo-Liang Yu, Ph.D., said in the March 31 release. “EGFRi is currently the frontline treatment for many patients with NSCLC, and combining it with our c-Met inhibitor vebreltinib is expected to transform the standard of care.”
“We believe that LaunXP can advance this development program rapidly in this patient population, bringing us closer to potentially improving outcomes for many patients with NSCLC,” Yu added. “We will continue to seek opportunities to maximize the global opportunity for vebreltinib, both as a single agent and in combination approaches for the treatment of cancers.”
A restructuring last summer saw Apollomics not only lay off staff but also narrow the focus of the phase 2 vebreltinib trial from people with various types of MET-altered NSCLC to only those with MET amplification.
“We believe the preclinical and clinical data supporting the combination of a c-Met inhibitor with an EGFRi is compelling,” LaunXP’s Chairman and President Chiu-Heng Chen, Ph.D., said. “By delaying the emergence of mutations which cause EGFRi resistance, we hope to demonstrate clinically that better patient outcomes can be achieved.”
Apollomics ended 2024 on a dud note, after its E-selectin inhibitor uproleselan failed a phase 3 trial in relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The Foster City, Calif.-based biotech had already given up hope for the therapy, from which it had acquired the China rights from GlycoMimetics in 2020.