Sinovac Biotech announced that the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has granted a conditional marketing authorization (CMA) to Sinovac for CoronaVac, Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine in individuals aged 18 and above.
Sinovac began rolling submission to the NMPA since September 2020 and the NMPA carried out rolling reviews when the submission was made. As of February 4, 2021, the Company made more than 40 submissions to the NMPA. After obtaining the preliminary efficacy results, Sinovac formally filed for application of a conditional marketing authorization on February 3, 2021. The approval is based on the results of the two-month data of phase III clinical trials. The final results are not yet available, and the efficacy and safety results shall be further confirmed.
Yin Weidong, chairman, president and CEO of Sinovac, said, “Being granted a conditional marketing authorization for CorornaVac is a significant milestone for Sinovac after commencing development at the beginning of 2020. We show our respect and appreciation to the volunteers for their contribution to this research and thank all experts, scientists and partners who participated in this international collaborative project. The Covid-19 pandemic continues around the world, and the fight is far from over. We look forward to providing safe and effective vaccines to as many individuals as possible to combat this epidemic by increasing the vaccination rate. It is our sincere hope that people’s lives and social and economic activities can return to normal as soon as possible, and that we can wear a smile without masks.”
CoronaVac is being used under emergency use approval (EUA) in Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey and Chile. Sinovac is also actively seeking regulatory approval of CoronaVac in other countries and regions around the world in an effort to maximize global accessibility and affordability of the Covid-19 vaccine and to ensure global prevention and mitigate spread.
BeiGene announced that Brukinsa (zanubrutinib) has received conditional approval from the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for the treatment of adult patients with Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia (WM) who have received at least one prior therapy. The supplemental new drug application was previously granted priority review by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the NMPA in October 2020.
“With NMPA approval for Brukinsa, our next generation BTK inhibitor, we are proud to be able to offer patients, their families, and physicians a new option for treating WM, an incurable disease that can cause significant morbidities,” said Xiaobin Wu, Ph.D., general manager of china and president of BeiGene. “This marks BRUKINSA’s third approval for the treatment of B-cell malignancies in China, and we believe it may serve an important role in addressing unmet needs for patients with blood cancers around the world.”
“WM often impacts older adults, and tolerability is a particular concern for these patients as longer duration of treatment has the potential to improve outcomes,” said Lugui Qiu, M.D., Professor, Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, and a clinical trial leading principal investigator of Brukinsa. “As shown in the trial, patients in China will now have access to an innovative treatment that offers cardiovascular safety advantages and deep and durable responses.”
“Brukinsa was specifically designed by BeiGene scientists to limit off-target effects seen with first-generation BTK inhibitors and we have built a broad clinical development program to assess clinical benefit, including the head-to-head ASPEN trial,” said Jane Huang, M.D., chief medical officer, Hematology, BeiGene. “We are grateful to all of the patients and clinicians who participated in the trial and hope to increase access for additional people impacted by WM and other hematologic malignancies as we advance global registration for Brukinsa.”
The conditional approval granted by the NMPA was based on findings from a single-arm pivotal phase 2 trial in China evaluating the safety and efficacy of Brukinsa in patients with WM who have received at least one prior therapy. With a median study follow-up time of 14.9 months, the primary endpoint of major response rate (MRR) as assessed by independent review committee (IRC) was 72.1% (95% CI: 56.3, 84.7); MRR is defined as the combined rate of complete responses, very good partial responses, and partial responses.
Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia is a rare, slow-growing lymphoma that occurs in less than two percent of patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL).
Brukinsa is a small molecule inhibitor of Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) discovered by BeiGene scientists that is currently being evaluated globally in a broad clinical program as a monotherapy and in combination with other therapies to treat various B-cell malignancies. Because new BTK is continuously synthesized, Brukinsa was specifically designed to deliver complete and sustained inhibition of the BTK protein by optimizing bioavailability, half-life, and selectivity. With differentiated pharmacokinetics compared to other approved BTK inhibitors, Brukinsa has been demonstrated to inhibit the proliferation of malignant B cells within a number of disease relevant tissues
