To: Business Editor            [For Immediate Release]

 

This press release is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to acquire, purchase or subscribe for securities. Potential investors should read the prospectus dated 9 November 2020 (the "Prospectus") for detailed information about the Company and the Global Offering described below before deciding whether or not to invest in the Offer Shares.

This press release is not for release, publication, distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States (including its territories and possessions, any state of the United States and the District of Columbia). This press release does not constitute or form a part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities in the United States or in any other jurisdiction. The Offer Shares have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended from time to time (the "U.S. Securities Act") or securities law of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States and may not be offered, sold, pledged or transferred within the United States, except in transactions exempt from, or not subject to, the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act. There will be no public offer of the Offer Shares in the United States. The Offer Shares may only be offered and sold (i) to qualified institutional buyers as defined in Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act pursuant to an exemption from registration under the U.S. Securities Act and (ii) outside the United States in offshore transactions in reliance on Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act.

This press release contains forward-looking statements and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements contained herein. We can give no assurance that these forward-looking statements will prove to have been correct. Expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are subject to change and we undertake no obligation and do not intend to update or revise any forward-looking statements herein.

 

 

Antengene Corporation Limited

德琪醫藥有限公司

（Stock code: 6996.HK）

 

Antengene Corporation Limited Announces Proposed Listing on the Main Board of SEHK
Premier Integrated Platform in APAC to Develop Innovative Therapies for Oncology

Near-term Commercialization Launch Prospects of Core Products

Offer price between HK$15.80 and HK$18.08 per share

 

[9 Nov 2020, Hong Kong] Antengene Corporation Limited ("Antengene" or the "Company", together with its subsidiaries, the "Group", stock code: 6996.HK), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with integrated drug discovery, clinical development, anchored in Asia-Pacific (APAC) with a global layout, announced the proposed listing of its shares on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited ("SEHK") today.

 

Antengene plans to offer an aggregate of 154,153,500 Offer Shares under the Global Offering (subject to the Over-allotment Option), consisting of 138,737,500 International Offer Shares (subject to adjustment and the Over-allotment Option) and 15,416,000 Hong Kong Offer Shares (subject to adjustment), at a price range between HK$15.80 and HK$18.08 per share.

 

The Hong Kong public offering will open at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, November 9, 2020 and close at 12:00 noon on Thursday, November 12, 2020 in Hong Kong. Dealings in shares on SEHK are expected to commence on Friday, November 20, 2020, with the stock code 6996.HK in board lots of 500 shares each. The Global Offering introduced Fidelity Investment Funds, GIC Private Limited, BlackRock Funds, Boyu, Cormorant, Hillhouse Capital, Sequoia Capital China Growth, CRF Investment Holdings Company Limited, Laurion Capital Master Fund and Octagon Investments as the cornerstone investors.

 

Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C. and J.P. Morgan Securities (Far East) Limited are the Joint Sponsors.

 

Combinatory and complementary approach in drug discovery and development

empowered by strong execution capabilities

Since its inception, Antengene has adopted a differentiated combinatory and complementary R&D approach to build a pipeline of first-in-class, only-in-class and/or best-in-class assets with synergistic profiles. The Company seeks to optimize the drug development process of each of its assets to fully unlock their therapeutic potential and maximize their clinical and commercial value. The Company's combinatory and complementary R&D approach is empowered by its strong clinical development capabilities, differentiated distributed drug development model and company-wide cross-functional collaboration.

 

Combinatory Approach. Leveraging management team's deep insights in cancer biology and decades of experience in hematology and oncology, Antengene has built a pipeline that targets multiple mechanisms of action (MoAs) that are key to cancer treatment. The Company believes that these differentiated pipeline compounds possess significant combination therapy potential with each other to achieve better efficacy and/or safety and/or overcome drug resistance.

 

Complementary Approach. Leveraging deep understanding of diseases and their treatment paradigms in regional markets, Antengene strategically tailors, designs and executes clinical trials to expand the use of its clinical-stage drug candidates in new indications that are complementary to its partners' efforts.

 

First-in-class and only-in-class SINE compound with near-term commercialization opportunities in the APAC region

One of Antengene's Core Products, ATG-010 (selinexor), or XPOVIO(R) (selinexor), is a first-in-class and only-in-class SINE compound that inhibits the nuclear export protein, XPO1, leading to the accumulation of tumor suppressor proteins in the cell nucleus and selective induction of apoptosis in cancer cells. ATG-010 (selinexor) has demonstrated compelling efficacy and a well-defined safety profile manageable by dose modification, both as a single agent and in combination with standard of care. ATG-010 (selinexor) is the first and only FDA-approved drug for use in both R/R MM and R/R DLBCL and the only single-agent, oral therapy approved by the FDA to treat R/R DLBCL. ATG-010 is orally available with low dosing frequency, which offers convenient drug administration benefits compared to existing therapies and greatly improves treatment adherence. The Company believes that this unique feature is especially valuable for the treatment of MM and DLBCL because it allows patients to stay on treatment continuously as their survival is prolonged. Therefore, the Company believes that ATG-010 (selinexor) is well positioned to disrupt the existing treatment paradigm of R/R MM and R/R DLBCL in China and other APAC markets.

 

With the near-term launches of ATG-010 (selinexor) for R/R MM and R/R DLBCL in multiple countries and regions, Antengene is at the inflection point of commercialization. The Company plans to submit the NDAs for both R/R MM and R/R DLBCL in China and leverage the data from the clinical trials carried out by Karyopharm to submit the NDA for ATG-010 (selinexor) directly in certain APAC countries or territories where NDA approval may be obtained without additional trials, including Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand by 2021.

 

Multiple SINE drug candidates with differentiated profiles and blockbuster potential

As a perfect embodiment of Antengene's vision and differentiated R&D approach, the Company successfully identified and built its pipeline of SINE compounds targeting XPO1, consisting of ATG-010 (selinexor), ATG-016 (eltanexor) and ATG-527 (verdinexor). While over a dozen SINE targets have been studied in the past twenty years, XPO1 is so far the only validated druggable SINE target. The Company believes that its current SINE portfolio represents a rare combination of first-in-class compounds with proven clinical benefits and a promising commercial profile. Each of Antengene's 3 SINE drug candidates has a differentiated profile which the Company believes will allow it to fully capture the market opportunity of this unique mechanism of action.

 

Robust pipeline of novel assets with first-in-class and/or best-in-class and combinatory

potential

In addition to Antengene's SINE portfolio, the Company is developing 3 other clinical-stage assets and 6 pre-clinical-stage assets. These pipeline assets are novel molecules that target key oncogenic pathways, tumor microenvironments, tumor-associated antigens and novel immune checkpoints. They also have potential as components of combination therapy.

 

Antengene's clinical-stage assets include: 1) ATG-008 (onatasertib), one of Antengene's Core Products, a second-generation, oral, dual mTORC1/2 inhibitor with first-in-class potential; 2) ATG-019, a potentially first-in-class oral dual PAK4/NAMPT inhibitor for the treatment of NHL and advanced solid tumors; 3) ATG-017, an oral, potent and selective ERK1/2 inhibitor with best-in-class potential for the treatment of various solid tumors and hematological malignancies driven by dysfunctional RAS-MAPK pathway.

 

Additionally, leveraging Antengene's strong in-house R&D capabilities, the Company is also internally developing 6 pre-clinical stage assets, which focus on novel targets or MoAs and hence have first-in-class potential to address significant unmet medical needs. More importantly, these assets target the key oncogenic pathways and are highly synergistic to Antengene's pipeline assets, as potential combination therapy counterparts.

 

Experienced management team, a high-quality pool of talent, distinguished board

members and global blue-chip investors

Experienced management team of seasoned executives who are able to leverage their experience at multinational biopharmaceutical companies and local knowledge to lead us to future success. Antengene's founder, Dr. Jay Mei, has more than 20 years of industry and academic experience focusing on the clinical R&D of oncology drugs in the United States and China. Dr. Jay Mei has a solid track record as the therapeutic area head at Celgene, responsible for the worldwide clinical development of multiple innovative assets, including REVLIMID(R), POMALYST(R) and IDHIFA(R). Besides Dr. Jay Mei, other key management members also have strong proven track records in the research, clinical development and commercialization of drugs around the globe as well as in financing and investments.

 

Since Antengene's establishment, the Company has received investments from industry-leading investors, including strategic investors such as Celgene, WuXi AppTec and Tigermed and financial investors such as Fidelity, Blackrock, GIC, Hillhouse, Boyu Capital, FountainVest Partners, Qiming Venture Partners and Taikang. This blue-chip investor base is a testament to the Company's vision and capabilities. The Company also benefited from having Mark Alles, the former Chairman and CEO of Celgene, who serves as an independent director and chairman of the nomination and corporate governance committee of Antengene's Board to provide strategic advice and guidance.

 

Dr. Jay Mei, M.D., Ph.D., founder, Chairman and CEO of Antengene Corporation Limited, said, "Antengene is a clinical-stage APAC biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative oncology medicines. We distinguish ourselves through our strong R&D capabilities and strategic approach to developing novel oncology therapies. We aim to become a premier global biotech company with an end-to-end fully integrated platform from discovery to commercialization. Looking forward, we will continue to implement our multi-source innovation strategy, deepen cross-functional collaboration, apply our distributed drug development model and enhance our manufacturing and commercialization capabilities. We will continue to actively expand across the APAC region through clinical development, registration and commercialization of ATG-010 (selinexor) and other assets in countries such as China, Australia and South Korea. Antengene will always strive to treat patients beyond borders and transform their lives by discovering, developing and commercializing global first-in-class, only-in-class and/or best-in-class therapies."

 

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About Antengene Corporation Limited

Antengene Corporation Limited is a clinical-stage APAC biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative oncology medicines. Antengene aims to provide novel anti-cancer drugs to patients in APAC and around the world. Since its inception, Antengene has built a pipeline of 12 clinical and pre-clinical stage assets, obtained 9 IND approvals and has 9 ongoing cross-regional clinical trials in the APAC region. At Antengene, we focus on developing drug candidates with novel targets or MoAs and first-in-class potential to address significant unmet medical needs. The vision of Antengene is to "Treat Patients Beyond Borders" through research, development and commercialization of first-in-class/best-in-class therapeutics.

 

This press release is issued by Porda Havas International Finance Communications Group for and on behalf of Antengene Corporation Limited. For further information, please contact: 

 

Porda Havas International Finance Communications Group

Mr. Bunny Lee	+852 3150 6707	bunny.lee@pordahavas.com
Ms. Angela Shi	+852 3150 6778	angela.shi@pordahavas.com
Ms. Mandy Chen	+852 3150 6721	mandy.chen@pordahavas.com