On January 20, local time, the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) announced through its official website that it has signed agreements with 27 pharmaceutical companies to allow them to produce and supply Merck’s oral anti-coronavirus products to 105 low- and middle-income countries or regions around the world. The viral drug Molnupiravir to promote affordability and accessibility worldwide.
Among them, 5 pharmaceutical companies are from China, namely Fosun Pharma (600196.SH), Borui Pharma (688166.SH), Langhua Pharma under Viva Bio (01873.HK), Shijiazhuang Longze Pharma and Shanghai Digi. Sino, in addition to Langhua Pharmaceutical is authorized to produce APIs, the other four pharmaceutical companies can produce APIs and finished drugs at the same time.
According to the agreement, 27 generic drug manufacturing companies can produce APIs or finished medicines of Merck’s new crown oral medicines without paying royalties.
Today (January 21), the concept stocks of new crown oral medicines opened fire. Borui Pharma and Fosun Pharma both hit their daily limit at the opening, and Fosun Pharma then opened the daily limit. As of the close, Borui Pharma rose 20% to 38.28 yuan, with the latest market value of 15.7 billion yuan; Fosun Pharma rose 5.98% to 51.42 yuan, with the latest market value of 1,200 yuan. billion.
As of the third quarterly report, the number of shareholders of Borui Pharma and Fosun Pharma was 7,000 and 298,000 respectively.
Hong Kong stock Via Biotech closed up 16.59% to HK$4.67 as of noon.
Authorized 5 domestic enterprises to imitate
Molnupiravir is an investigational oral form of nucleoside drug that works by interfering with virus replication, keeping virus levels in the body low, thereby reducing the severity of the disease. It was jointly developed by Merck and the biotech company Ridgeback. At present, the drug has received emergency use authorization from the US FDA for the treatment of mild to moderate new coronary pneumonia in high-risk adult patients.
Among the 27 companies that signed an agreement with MMP, 5 companies will focus on producing APIs, 13 companies will produce both APIs and finished medicines, and 9 companies will produce finished medicines. It is worth noting that five Chinese pharmaceutical companies, including Fosun Pharma, Borui Pharmaceutical, Shijiazhuang Longze Pharmaceutical, Shanghai Desano, and Langhua Pharmaceutical, are among them. The first four are licensed to produce both APIs and finished drugs. Langhua Pharmaceutical is licensed to manufacture APIs.
The licensed company has successfully demonstrated its ability to meet MPP’s requirements for manufacturing capacity, regulatory compliance, and meeting international standards for quality-assured medicines, MPP said.
According to the official website, the Drug Patent Pool Organization is a public health organization supported by the United Nations, dedicated to increasing access to life-saving medicines and promoting drug development for low- and middle-income countries. To date, MPP has signed agreements with multiple patent holders for 13 HIV antiretroviral drugs, one HIV technology platform, three hepatitis C direct-acting antiviral drugs, one tuberculosis treatment, two long-term effective technology, two experimental oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19, and a diagnostic test for COVID-19 antibodies.
In addition to signing a new crown oral drug related agreement with Merck, MPP also signed a related agreement with Pfizer on the new crown oral drug PAXLOVID. Pfizer has signed a voluntary license agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) to help expand its accessibility in 95 low- and middle-income countries, according to a press release published on Pfizer’s official website on January 18, local time. 53% of the world‘s population.
Involving multiple listed companies
Of the five Chinese companies mentioned above, two are A-share listed companies, Fosun Pharma and Borui Pharma, with a total of about 305,000 shareholders.
At noon on January 21, Borui Pharmaceutical announced that it signed a “Sub-license Agreement” with the Drug Patent Pool Foundation (MPP) on December 23, 2021. MPP grants the company a non-exclusive license to manufacture, commercialize and related rights to the investigational oral drug Molnupiravir using regional patents and MSD proprietary technology in the region and in the field (i.e. for the treatment of COVID-19). Licensed regions are 105 low- and middle-income countries/regions including India, Pakistan, and Côte d’Ivoire, excluding China.
Borui Medicine said that the price of the product is expected to be lower than the original product or the price in other middle- and high-income countries. The specific price and production cost cannot be determined for the time being, and the impact on future performance cannot be predicted.
Langhua Pharma, which is authorized to produce APIs, is a subsidiary of Viva Bio and is a major global manufacturer of APIs such as quinolones, spironolactone, olanzapine, and antivirals.
Meanwhile, Aidi Pharmaceuticals (688488.SH) may also benefit. According to the company’s response on the investor interaction platform, the company’s investment project in Shijiazhuang Longze Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. has been completed on January 18, 2021, and the relevant industrial and commercial change procedures will be completed on February 19, 2021. Up to now, the company holds a 4.76% stake in Longze Pharmaceutical.
In early trading, Aidi Pharmaceutical once had a daily limit, and as of the close, it rose 10.79% to 16.74 yuan per share.
The global new crown epidemic continues to ferment, so that the new crown drug concept stocks have always been the focus of the capital market.
Zhongtai Securities pointed out that since the outbreak of the epidemic, the search for effective drug treatment has been a priority. Compared with macromolecular drugs (such as neutralizing antibody drugs, etc.), small molecule oral drugs have the advantages of direct antiviral effect, low production cost and medication cost, easy to meet storage and transportation conditions, convenient administration, and good patient compliance. Medicine is expected to become a more convenient option for the treatment of new coronary pneumonia in the future.
Southwest Securities also mentioned that for the mutant strains, the basic immunity of the existing vaccines is less effective for Omicron, and the booster immunity of the vaccines of various technical routes against Omicron is slightly weaker than that of the Delta strain, but still maintains a high neutralizing antibody. level. New crown vaccines, neutralizing antibodies, and small-molecule oral drugs are an effective combination for anti-epidemic.
In fact, my country’s new crown oral drugs are also in progress. At present, many domestic new crown oral drugs are in the clinical stage, including companies such as Junshi Bio and Kintor Pharmaceuticals.
According to the 21st Century Business Herald, domestic companies that deploy small-molecule oral drugs for COVID-19 mainly include Kintor Pharma, Real Bio, Junshi Bio, Simcere Pharma and Guangshengtang Pharma. Among them, Kintor Pharmaceuticals’ Prokluamide and Real Bio-Azvudine have launched Phase III clinical trials abroad; Junshi Bio’s VV116 is currently conducting clinical trials in China and Uzbekistan. Simcere and Guangshengtang Pharmaceutical’s 3CL protease inhibitor candidates are currently in the preclinical research stage.
(Editor: Duan Jingyuan)
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