After its potential kidney disease drug went down in flames late last year, Novo Nordisk is pinning the blame on alleged fraudulent claims by the drug’s original maker. The Danish pharma giant plans to seek $830 million in damages from Singapore-based KBP Biosciences and KBP’s founder and executive chairman, Zhenhua Huang, Ph.D., according to a Feb. 14 ruling in a Singapore court.
The litigation will take place in New York, according to the ruling. In advance, Novo filed a request in Singaporean court to globally freeze the assets of KBP and Huang, which a judge granted.
Novo alleges that KBP withheld phase 2 data showing that the drug, ocedurenone, doesn’t work, and that seemingly positive data had in fact been the result of quality and compliance issues at one of the trial’s test sites, according to the ruling.
Novo acquired ocedurenone in October 2023 in an up to $1.3 billion deal. By the following fall, however, Novo trashed the asset after the drug failed to improve systolic blood pressure in a phase 3 chronic kidney disease trial.
“Patient safety remains our number one priority in every aspect of our business, and that includes ensuring we receive all material information related to clinical trials of potential new treatments in our business dealings,” a Novo Nordisk spokesperson told Fierce Biotech in an email. “While this is an ongoing matter, we don’t have anything to add to the Singapore court ruling at this time.”
The pharma sought to freeze KBP’s assets after KBP transferred $339.1 million to its holding company and declared $578.5 million in dividends, according to the ruling.
“Novo submits that the steps taken show an intention on Dr. Huang’s part to remove assets from Novo’s reach in anticipation of a claim by Novo,” the judge wrote. “There is no clear commercial rationale for these actions.”
Scrapping ocedurenone cost Novo an $816.5 million impairment loss. The company had hoped the drug, a nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (nsMRA), could compete against Bayer’s approved nsMRA, Kerendia.
Fierce Biotech has reached out to KBP for comment and will update this article if more information becomes available.