ROCKVILLE, Md. and SUZHOU, China, July 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascentage Pharma (6855.HK), a global biopharmaceutical company engaged in discovering, developing and commercializing both first-in-class and best-in-class therapies for hematological malignancies, announced today that on July 2, 2024, in relation to the Exclusive Option Agreement with Takeda for the third-generation BCR-ABL inhibitor olverembatinib (HQP1351), Ascentage Pharma has received the US$100 million option payment called for by the Exclusive Option Agreement.

On June 14, 2024, Ascentage Pharma and Takeda entered into an Exclusive Option Agreement that granted Takeda an exclusive option to enter into an exclusive license agreement for olverembatinib. The Exclusive Option Agreement calls for Ascentage Pharma to receive an option payment of US$100 million and provides for Ascentage Pharma to be eligible for an option exercise fee and additional potential milestone payments of up to approximately US$1.2 billion and double-digit royalties on annual sales.

About Ascentage Pharma

Ascentage Pharma (6855.HK) is a fully integrated global biopharmaceutical company engaged in discovering, developing and commercializing both first-in-class and best-in-class therapies to address global unmet medical needs primarily in hematological malignancies. On October 28, 2019, Ascentage Pharma was listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited with the stock code 6855.HK.

Ascentage Pharma has built a pipeline of 9 clinical-stage drug candidates, including novel, highly potent Bcl-2, and dual Bcl-2/Bcl-xL inhibitors, as well as candidates aimed at IAP and MDM2-p53 pathways, and next-generation TKIs. Ascentage Pharma is also the only company in the world with active clinical programs targeting all three known classes of key apoptosis regulators. The company is conducting more than 40 clinical trials, including 6 global registrational Phase III studies, in the US, Australia, Europe, and China.

Olverembatinib, the company's first lead asset developed for the treatment of drug-resistant chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and the company's first approved product in China, has been granted Priority Review Designations and Breakthrough Therapy Designations by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). To date, the drug had been included into the China National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL). Furthermore, olverembatinib has been granted Orphan Drug Designations (ODDs) and a Fast Track Designation (FTD) by the US FDA, and an Orphan Designation by the EMA of the EU.