Norgine B.V. enters into exclusive distribution agreement for the commercialisation of PLENVU® in China with Beijing Podconley Pharmaceutical Technology & Development Co., Ltd.

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16 June 2021

Norgine B.V. enters into exclusive distribution agreement for the commercialisation of PLENVU® in China with Beijing Podconley Pharmaceutical Technology & Development Co., Ltd.

 

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands. 16 June 2021, 10:00 CET. NORGINE B.V. (Norgine) a leading European specialist pharmaceutical company and Beijing Podconley Pharmaceutical Technology & Development Co., Ltd. (Beijing Podconley), today announced an exclusive distribution agreement by which Beijing Podconley will commercialise Norgine’s product PLENVU® in China. Norgine will receive upfront payments and undisclosed milestone payments, along with double-digit percentage royalties.

PLENVU® is a lower-volume (1L) polyethylene glycol (PEG) based bowel preparation indicated for bowel cleansing prior to colonoscopy in adults. It is the first lower-volume bowel preparation to show superior segmental cleansing of the colon vs. standard of care.[1]

Christopher Bath, Chief Operating Officer of Norgine commented, “We are proud to help more than 22 million patients every year to live better and healthier lives. Our ambition is to continue to serve many more patients in the years to come. This successful deal strengthens our business as a leading European specialist pharmaceutical company and our capability to deliver our commitment to patients worldwide.”

Jinping Lin, General Manager of Beijing Podconley  added, “At Beijing Podconley our mission is to deliver real value to patients to address unmet clinical needs. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in China, and the incidence of colorectal cancer is increasing year by year. There is still a gap in the survival rate of colorectal cancer in China compared with Europe and America. Therefore, we are honoured to be able to introduce PLENVU® in China so as to help save lives.”

PLENVU® is currently commercialised in Europe, Australia and New Zealand by Norgine affiliates, in South Korea by Norgine’s partner Korea Pharma and in the USA by Norgine’s partner Bausch Health US.[2] In addition, Norgine has partnered for PLENVU® with:

  • Bausch Health US in Canada
  • Swixx Biopharma in Central and Eastern Europe including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia
  • Pharmacare Limited T/A Aspen Pharmacare in the Republic of South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana and Namibia
  • Faes Farma S.A. in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru

For further information on PLENVU® in the EU visit: www.expertiseincolonoscopy.com/plenvu

 

ENDS

 

For further information please contact:

Clara Bentham +44 (0)1895 826654 or +44 (0)7734 367883

Eleni Fistikaki +44 (0)1895826227 or +44 (0)7825 389477

contact@norgine.com

www.norgine.com

Follow us @norgine

 

Notes to Editors:

About PLENVU®

PLENVU®, Powder for Oral Solution (PEG 3350, Sodium Ascorbate, Sodium Sulfate, Ascorbic Acid, Sodium Chloride, and Potassium Chloride), is indicated in adults for bowel cleansing prior to any procedure requiring a clean bowel. PLENVU®, Summary of Product Characteristics. Available at: https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/8578/smpc#gref Accessed April 2021

 

About Colorectal Cancer and colonoscopy

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related mortality world-wide.[3] Colorectal cancer is largely preventable, with early detection being associated with a 90% cure rate.[4] Colonoscopy is an effective method for colorectal cancer screening and has been shown to reduce both the incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer when applied in the general population. Inadequate pre-colonoscopy bowel cleansing reduces the diagnostic accuracy of colonoscopy, particularly for the detection of smaller lesions and sessile (slightly flattened) polyps. This may result in repeated procedures, thereby potentially increasing patient burden, resource requirement and costs and can possibly delay the initiation of treatment.[5],[6],[7]

 

About Norgine

Norgine is a leading European specialist pharmaceutical company that has been bringing transformative medicines to patients for over a century. Our commitment to transforming people’s lives drives everything we do and our European experience, fully integrated infrastructure and exceptional partnership approach enables us to quickly apply creative solutions to bring life-changing medicines to patients that they may not otherwise be able to access. Norgine is proud to have helped 22 million patients around the world in 2020 and generated €448 million in net product sales, a growth of 7% over 2019.

Norgine has a direct presence in 12 European countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand. We also have a strong global network of partnerships in non-Norgine markets. We are a flexible and fully integrated pharmaceutical business, with manufacturing (Hengoed, Wales and Dreux, France), third party supply networks and significant product development capabilities, in addition to our sales and marketing infrastructure. This enables us to acquire, develop and commercialise specialist and innovative products that make a real difference to the lives of patients around the world.

In 2012, Norgine established Norgine Ventures, a complementary business which supports innovative healthcare companies through the provision of debt-like financing in Europe and the US. For more information, please visit www.norgineventures.com

NORGINE and the sail logo are trademarks of the Norgine group of companies.

 

About Beijing Podconley

Beijing Podconley is committed to building a portfolio of perioperative care including preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative care products. We aim to develop safe, effective and value added products for improving patients’ quality of life during the perioperative period. To enrich our portfolio, in addition to our own development of modified drugs, Podconley is also in pursuit of license-in and collaborations with partners.

Podconley used to be an R&D subsidiary company of Gloria Pharmaceuticals. Having started as an R&D company, Podconley focused on developing technology for insoluble drug injection and has established a fat emulsion technology platform, which is well-known in China.

Podconley became a split-off company from Gloria in 2018 and received an investment by Jingfeng Pharmaceuticals which accelerated its business further.

 

References

[1] Repici A., Amlani B., Uebel P., Schreiber S. Superior high-quality colon cleansing with 1L NER1006 versus sodium picosulfate + magnesium citrate, 2L polyethylene glycol + ascorbate, or oral sulfate solution: Post hoc pooled analysis of three randomised phase 3 clinical trials. #P0159. Monday 22 October. 12:30 – 13:30 CET. UEGW 2018

[2] In Austria, Spain and the Netherlands it is known as PLEINVUE® rather than PLENVU® March 2018. Available at: https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/medicine/31722. Accessed April 2021

[3] World Health Organisation. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer Accessed April 2021

[4] American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/colon-rectal-cancer/detection-diagnosis-staging/detection.html Accessed April 2021

[5] Bechtold ML, Mir F, Puli SR et al. Optimizing bowel preparation for colonoscopy: a guide to enhance quality of visualization. Ann Gastroenterol 2016; 29: 137 – 146

[6] Brenner H, Stock C, Hoffmeister M. Effect of screening sigmoidoscopy and screening colonoscopy on colorectal cancer incidence and mortality: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and observational studies. BMJ 2014; 348: g2467

[7] Baxter NN, Warren JL, Barrett MJ et al. Association between colonoscopy and colorectal cancer mortality in a US cohort according to site of cancer and colonoscopist specialty. J Clin Oncol 2012; 30: 2664 – 2669