Junshi Biosciences
Junshi Biosciences is another Chinese company with a marketed PD-1 inhibitor, but its Tuoyi (toripalimab) has two firsts: it's the first homegrown PD-1/L1 inhibitor to be approved in China—or anywhere—and it's the first China-made checkpoint inhibitor to be designated as a breakthrough by the FDA.
With its December 2018 Chinese approval in previously treated melanoma, Junshi stepped right into the domain of Merck's Keytruda, which received its initial China approval in the same indication five months earlier. For their registrational trials, the two medications even used the same primary investigator.
Eli Lilly invested $245 million for ex-China rights to Junshi's neutralizing antibody against SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus driving COVID-19, in May. The medicine, dubbed etesevimab (JS016/LY-CoV016), was created collaboratively by Junshi and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Microbiology.
The Junshi medication would be used in an antibody cocktail with another AbCellera-partnered product named bamlanivimab (LY-CoV555). However, the Junshi medication may play a larger role now that bamlanivimab failed as a monotherapy in hospitalized patients in the ACTIV-3 study, which is being conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Headquarters: 7 15f, Building Crystal Plz No 6 Lane 100 Shanghai, 200001 China
CEO: Ning Li
Founded: 2012
Website: https://www.junshipharma.com/
