Harbour BioMed recently announced that the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of China has approved the Biologics License Application (BLA) for batoclimab injection (subcutaneous injection) (batoclimab SC), 170 mg (1 mL)/vial, for the treatment of generalised Myasthenia Gravis (gMG) in adult patients who are anti-acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibody positive.

The approval is supported by positive results from a pivotal phase 3 clinical study conducted at 27 centers in China. The main study population was patients with gMG who were positive for acetylcholine receptor antibodies (AChR-Ab) or muscle-specific tyrosine kinase antibodies (MuSK-Ab).

The primary endpoint of the study was the proportion of the population with sustained improvement in the MG Activities of Daily Living Scale (MG-ADL) score during the first cycle of treatment. Sustained improvement was defined as a reduction in MG-ADL score of ≥ 3 points from baseline that persisted for at least 4 weeks. 58.2 percent of patients treated with batoclimab SC achieved the primary endpoint, which was significantly higher compared with 31.3 percent in the placebo group (P=0.001). Treatment effect was observed as early as the second week of therapy.

Additionally, batoclimab SC group demonstrated significant improvements in secondary endpoints compared with placebo group, including sustained Quantitative Myasthenia Gravis (QMG) improvement (64.2 percent vs 40.6 percent; P=0.008), duration of 3-point or greater MG-ADL improvement (51.5 percent vs 36.1 percent; P=0.008); proportion of people with clinical expression of minimal symptoms (defined as having a MG-ADL score of 0 or 1) at any visit (25.4 percent vs 4.7 percent; P=0.004), and sustained MG-ADL improvement in the second treatment cycle (62.7 percent vs 36.4 percent; P=0.002).

Batoclimab SC was generally well tolerated. The most frequently reported Adverse Event (AE) in the treatment group is peripheral edema (38.8 percent vs 4.6 percent for placebo), all of which were mild to moderate in severity. Plasma albumin levels decreased during treatment but returned spontaneously upon treatment discontinuation.

Dr. Jingsong Wang, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Harbour BioMed, commented, "The approval of batoclimab SC is a proud moment for everyone at Harbour BioMed. We believe that, with its unique mechanism of action, batoclimab SC has the potential to provide a new treatment option for patients with gMG. We are deeply grateful to the patients, investigators, and our partner for their trust and collaboration throughout this journey, and we look forward to making this therapy available to patients as quickly as possible, so that more people in need can benefit from it."

Pursuant to the license agreement entered into between Harbour BioMed and NBP Pharma in October, 2022, commercialisation of batoclimab in the Greater China region (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) will be conducted by NBP Pharma, a subsidiary of CSPC Pharmaceutical Group.

Harbour BioMed will receive tiered royalties based on annual net sales of batoclimab in Greater China.

Professor Chongbo Zhao, MD, Principal Investigator of the pivotal phase 3 study and Professor of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, commented, "Batoclimab SC is the first FcRn-targeted therapy to complete its entire clinical development in China. The trial results showed rapid onset of action, deep symptom improvement, and a favorable safety profile. This high-level evidence, based on data from Chinese patients, indicates that batoclimab SC provides a new treatment option for myasthenia gravis. This approval represents a monumental milestone in this field, and we believe it will bring a highly valuable new treatment option to physicians and patients in China."