In October 2020, Henlius entered into a co-development and exclusive license agreement with Essex. With this collaboration, Henlius and Essex plan to conduct global multi-centre clinical trials of HLX04 in China, Australia, the European Union and the United States, and apply marketing authorization in different countries and regions around the globe based on the research results. Previously, a series of studies including non-clinical pharmacodynamics, safety pharmacology, repeat-dose toxicity, pharmacokinetics, toxicokinetics, immunotoxicity, immunogenicity and local irritation of HLX04-O vitreous injection in the treatment of wAMD have been carried out, initially proving the efficacy and safety of HLX04-O. The phase 3, global and multi-centre clinical study of HLX04-O is intended to commence in China, Australia, Russian Federation, Singapore, Spain and Poland in the near future to further evaluate the efficacy and safety of HLX04-O for the treatment of wAMD.

Age-related macular degeneration is one of the leading causes of visual impairment and blindness in the elderly worldwide^[1]. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 30 million people have suffered from AMD globally, and about half a million people become blind due to AMD each year^[2]. Wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) is characterized by the formation of subretinal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and is responsible for approximately 90% of cases of AMD-related blindness. Due to an aging population, wAMD has become a serious social medical problem and indicated a huge burden of unmet need^[3]. With the development of treatment for fundus diseases, anti-VEGF drugs are becoming the first-line therapy for the management of wAMD^[4], and the efficacy and safety of vitreous injection of bevacizumab for wAMD have been verified in multiple clinical studies^[5-11].

HLX04-O is a new ophthalmic preparation product developed based on HLX04, a bevacizumab biosimilar independently developed by the Company, through optimizing the prescription, specifications and production processes of HLX04 according to the requirements of ophthalmic drugs, without changing the active ingredients, and is intended to be used for the treatment of wAMD. By means of comparability studies, it shows that changes in production processes and prescriptions of the preparation have no adverse impact on the quality, safety and efficacy of the pharmaceutical preparation. HLX04-O can inhibit VEGF’s binding to its receptor Flt-1(VEGFR-1) and KDR(VEGFR-2) on endothelial cells to inhibit the activation of its tyrosine kinase signaling pathway, inhibit endothelial cell proliferation and reduce angiogenesis, thereby treating eye diseases associated with angiogenesis. In January and March 2021, HLX04-O for the treatment of wAMD has been approved to commence clinical trials in Australia and the United States.