(Yicai) Nov. 29 -- A Chinese cancer treatment that US regulators approved last month will cost 33 times more in the United States than it does in China.

A 240-milligram bottle of Toripalimab, known as Loqtorzi in the US, wholesales for USD8,892 in the country, according to a filing by Coherus BioSciences, the local partner of the drug's developer Junshi Biotechnology. In China, it costs CNY1,913 (USD271).

Coherus predicts annual sales in the US could reach up to USD200 million, Yao Sheng, senior vice president of Shanghai-based Junshi Bio, told Yicai. 

The US is the biggest market for innovative drugs, according to industry insiders, who added that because of the country’s liberal pricing laws and patent protections, such medicines can be sold there at high prices.

The US Food and Drug Administration greenlit Toripalimab, the first Chinese mono-antibody drug targeting PD-1 approved for marketing in China, for adults with late-stage nasopharynx cancer, Junshi Bio said on Oct. 29. It is the US’ first and only approved treatment for this type of cancer. 

Toripalimab was given the nod in China in December 2018 and has since been cleared for six treatment indications in the country.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev