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Genor Biopharma eyes top position among Chinese firms in breast cancer drugs category with affordable alternatives

  • Shanghai-based Genor Biopharma plans to seek regulatory approval for coprelotamab to be used in China on late-stage breast cancer patients
  • Genor shares debuted at HK$29.20 in Hong Kong on Wednesday, 21.7 per cent higher than its IPO price of HK$24

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Breast cancer accounted for nearly 20 per cent of all female cancer incidences in China in 2018, according to the World Health Organization. Photo: View Portfolio
Eric Ng
Shanghai-based Genor Biopharma, which made a successful debut on Hong Kong stock exchange on Wednesday, is looking to offer cheaper treatments for breast cancer – the most common among all cancers in Chinese women.
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“We aim to be a leading breast cancer therapies provider among domestic firms in three to five years,” chief executive officer Guo Feng told the Post. “We are building a sales team for multiple drug candidates in this category, and our superior manufacturing capabilities mean we can a make good profit even in a competitive market.”

Some 367,900 new breast cancer cases were recorded in 2018 in China, nearly a fifth of all female cancer incidences in the nation, according to the World Health Organization.

Genor has completed phase three clinical trial on coprelotamab, an in-house discovered antibody vying to be the first among three domestically developed drug candidates to win approval to be used in China on late-stage breast cancer patients with HER2+ diagnosis. It expects to apply to Chinese regulators for marketing approval before the year-end.

Guo Feng, CEO of Shanghai-based cancer drugs developer Genor Biopharma. Photo: Handout
Guo Feng, CEO of Shanghai-based cancer drugs developer Genor Biopharma. Photo: Handout
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The candidate will take on Swiss rival Roche’s Herceptin and Perjeta that are currently used in combination with chemotherapy, as well as GSK’s Lapatinib to treat the same type of breast cancer in China.

Herceptin was included in China’s national health insurance coverage in 2017 after a 69 per cent price cut, while Lapatinib was included following a 42 per cent reduction. Herceptin, the “gold standard” for this type of cancer for patients who had no previous treatment, saw sales volume jump eight-fold in 2019.
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