(Yicai) Aug. 5 -- A subsidiary of Chinese drugmaker Huadong Medicine will spend up to CNY1.1 billion (USD150 million) to acquire the exclusive rights to market a new cancer drug under development in the Chinese mainland.

Huadong Medicine (Hangzhou) will pay Imunopharm Technology CNY125 million (USD17.5 million) downpayment and CNY950 million milestone payments for the exclusive Chinese mainland commercialization rights of IM19, a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell immunotherapy against lymph cancer, the Hangzhou-based parent company announced yesterday.

The IM19 injection is in the clinical registry stage for three indications and is expected to apply to the regulator for a market permit in the fourth quarter of this year, Huadong noted.

CAR-T immunotherapy is bringing new hope to patients with blood tumors, as it can accurately identify and remove cancer cells, thus making it possible to cure tumors and improve patients’ life quality, Huadong added.

IM19 will become one of the best China-made CAR-T immunotherapy, fill a market void in the domestic market for CAR-T products for lymphoma, and bring new hope to hundreds of thousands of lymphoma patients in China, Huadong predicted.

Huadong recently acquired regional marketing rights to several innovative drugs under development to expand its new drug pipeline. Last month, the firm announced it would invest CNY1.3 billion plus sales commissions to buy exclusive marketing rights to an innovative nervous system disease treatment in China.

Huadong’s shares [SHE: 000963] closed up 0.7 percent at CNY29.10 (USD4.07) in Shenzhentoday, while the Shenzhen market’s benchmark Component Index plunged 1.85 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione