Latest news with #AndrewSilver
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-China's Sciwind is in talks to license weight-loss drug in US, CEO says
By Andrew Silver HANGZHOU (Reuters) -China's Sciwind Biosciences is in talks with a U.S. company interested in licensing its experimental weight-loss drug for American patients, the drugmaker's chief executive told Reuters. Overweight patients treated with Sciwind's ecnoglutide drug lost an average of 10% to 15% of their body weight, roughly in line with results from Novo Nordisk's top-selling obesity treatment Wegovy, according to a late-stage study published in medical journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology in June. 'We also hope we are able to successfully license out, and they will apply for approval in the U.S.,' Sciwind Biosciences CEO Pan Hai said, declining to identify the firm or disclose financial terms under discussion. Reuters is the first to report on the potential U.S. licensing deal. Pan said its potential partner hoped to gain U.S. marketing approval to prescribe ecnoglutide for multiple medical conditions and would carry out further clinical development. The talks are not yet at the stage of discussing a detailed contract, he added. Sciwind is hoping the partner could use clinical data accumulated in China and Australia to accelerate the development. Pan expects it would take at least three years for a U.S. partner to bring Sciwind's drug to market in the United States, and said the FDA might require a bridging study to compare ecnoglutide's pharmacokinetics - how it moves through the body - among different patient populations. Ecnoglutide is administered as a once-weekly injection. It belongs to a class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists, which work by helping control blood sugar levels and triggering a feeling of fullness. Novo's Wegovy and Eli Lilly and Co's Zepbound lead the U.S. market for weight-loss drugs, but their relatively high prices leave room for new competitors to offer cheaper alternatives. Sciwind has applied to sell ecnoglutide in China for weight management and the treatment of type II diabetes. Other approved weight loss medicines in China also include drugs from Novo, Lilly and other drugmakers. Pan said he could not give an estimated time of approval. The company is also in talks to license the drug to partners for other markets, including in Latin America and the Middle East. Pricing in China would be in line with other approved competitors, Pan said, adding the company would not engage in a "price war" there. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-China's Sciwind is in talks to license weight-loss drug in US, CEO says
By Andrew Silver HANGZHOU (Reuters) -China's Sciwind Biosciences is in talks with a U.S. company interested in licensing its experimental weight-loss drug for American patients, the drugmaker's chief executive told Reuters. Overweight patients treated with Sciwind's ecnoglutide drug lost an average of 10% to 15% of their body weight, roughly in line with results from Novo Nordisk's top-selling obesity treatment Wegovy, according to a late-stage study published in medical journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology in June. 'We also hope we are able to successfully license out, and they will apply for approval in the U.S.,' Sciwind Biosciences CEO Pan Hai said, declining to identify the firm or disclose financial terms under discussion. Reuters is the first to report on the potential U.S. licensing deal. Pan said its potential partner hoped to gain U.S. marketing approval to prescribe ecnoglutide for multiple medical conditions and would carry out further clinical development. The talks are not yet at the stage of discussing a detailed contract, he added. Sciwind is hoping the partner could use clinical data accumulated in China and Australia to accelerate the development. Pan expects it would take at least three years for a U.S. partner to bring Sciwind's drug to market in the United States, and said the FDA might require a bridging study to compare ecnoglutide's pharmacokinetics - how it moves through the body - among different patient populations. Ecnoglutide is administered as a once-weekly injection. It belongs to a class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists, which work by helping control blood sugar levels and triggering a feeling of fullness. Novo's Wegovy and Eli Lilly and Co's Zepbound lead the U.S. market for weight-loss drugs, but their relatively high prices leave room for new competitors to offer cheaper alternatives. Sciwind has applied to sell ecnoglutide in China for weight management and the treatment of type II diabetes. Other approved weight loss medicines in China also include drugs from Novo, Lilly and other drugmakers. Pan said he could not give an estimated time of approval. The company is also in talks to license the drug to partners for other markets, including in Latin America and the Middle East. Pricing in China would be in line with other approved competitors, Pan said, adding the company would not engage in a "price war" there.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-China's Sciwind is in talks to license weight-loss drug in US, CEO says
By Andrew Silver HANGZHOU (Reuters) -China's Sciwind Biosciences is in talks with a U.S. company interested in licensing its experimental weight-loss drug for American patients, the drugmaker's chief executive told Reuters. Overweight patients treated with Sciwind's ecnoglutide drug lost an average of 10% to 15% of their body weight, roughly in line with results from Novo Nordisk's top-selling obesity treatment Wegovy, according to a late-stage study published in medical journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology in June. 'We also hope we are able to successfully license out, and they will apply for approval in the U.S.,' Sciwind Biosciences CEO Pan Hai said, declining to identify the firm or disclose financial terms under discussion. Reuters is the first to report on the potential U.S. licensing deal. Pan said its potential partner hoped to gain U.S. marketing approval to prescribe ecnoglutide for multiple medical conditions and would carry out further clinical development. The talks are not yet at the stage of discussing a detailed contract, he added. Sciwind is hoping the partner could use clinical data accumulated in China and Australia to accelerate the development. Pan expects it would take at least three years for a U.S. partner to bring Sciwind's drug to market in the United States, and said the FDA might require a bridging study to compare ecnoglutide's pharmacokinetics - how it moves through the body - among different patient populations. Ecnoglutide is administered as a once-weekly injection. It belongs to a class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists, which work by helping control blood sugar levels and triggering a feeling of fullness. Novo's Wegovy and Eli Lilly and Co's Zepbound lead the U.S. market for weight-loss drugs, but their relatively high prices leave room for new competitors to offer cheaper alternatives. Sciwind has applied to sell ecnoglutide in China for weight management and the treatment of type II diabetes. Other approved weight loss medicines in China also include drugs from Novo, Lilly and other drugmakers. Pan said he could not give an estimated time of approval. The company is also in talks to license the drug to partners for other markets, including in Latin America and the Middle East. Pricing in China would be in line with other approved competitors, Pan said, adding the company would not engage in a "price war" there. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Australia says it will not compromise on drug subsidies as Trump reviews US prices
By Andrew Silver SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Australia will "not compromise" on its policy to subsidise the cost of some medicines, the government said on Wednesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order to lower domestic drug prices roiled the global pharmaceutical industry. The Trump administration wants to reduce the gap between U.S. drug prices and those in other developed countries, including many in Europe, where prescription drugs cost, on average, one-third of the cost in the U.S. "We have been clear that Australia will not compromise on our policy setting. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) is not up for negotiation," a spokesperson for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Reuters in a statement. Australia has "always been a strong advocate for open and rules-based trade," the statement said. On Monday, Trump said he wanted to "equalize" prices with other countries by implementing tariffs. In Australia, pharmaceutical companies are able to freely set medicine prices on the private market but the government subsidises the cost of some medicines used in community and outpatient settings through the PBS. A recent analysis by the Australia Institute, a public policy think tank, found that some medicines in the U.S. were more expensive than in Australia. During U.S.-Australia free trade negotiations more than two decades ago, Washington pushed hard to include provisions to water down the PBS, but the final changes were not as significant as the U.S. pharmaceutical industry had wanted, according to the think tank. European governments are examining whether Trump can force them to pay more for prescription medicines, Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Australia's CSL evaluates China tariff exemptions for its US-made drugs
By Andrew Silver SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Australia's CSL Ltd said it's evaluating whether its drugs used in surgery would be exempted from 125% tariffs China imposed on U.S.-made goods, as it seeks to minimise impact of a trade war between Beijing and Washington. China has granted tariff exemptions on select products, including select pharmaceuticals, and has also created a non-public list of goods that would be exempted from duties, Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday, in the clearest sign yet of Beijing's concerns about the trade war's fallout. The quiet approach allows Beijing, which has repeatedly said it is willing to fight until the end unless the U.S. lifts its 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, to maintain its public messaging while privately taking practical steps to provide concessions. "We are aware of reports that certain goods imported from the U.S. into China are potentially being exempted from tariffs," a spokesperson for CSL told Reuters in a statement. "We are working to determine the potential for our critical medicines to be covered by these exemptions." CSL, Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical and Spanish pharmaceutical firm Grifols have at least one U.S. manufacturing site for human albumin sold in China, according to data from China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). Human albumin is used to replace lost fluids and restore blood volume in the human body. It is also used in treatments for conditions including cardiac surgery, cirrhosis and sepsis. China and the United States are the two largest markets globally for albumin, according to Grifols. The CSL spokesperson said that most of the albumin it exports into China is produced outside the U.S. but it had recently filed a regulatory submission in China for approving production at a site in Australia to "further diversify our global supply chain and help ensure longer-term stability in the supply" of the product in China. Takeda and Grifols declined to comment on whether China had granted them tariff exemptions for their U.S.-made albumin imported to China. China's Commerce Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The NMPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the application for Australia production. Sign in to access your portfolio
