First Gene Therapy for Knee Osteoarthritis

Kolon signed a contract to supply 230 billion won (US$207 million) worth of products to Henan Province in China for five years.
Kolon has signed a contract to supply 230 billion won (US$207 million) worth of Invossa to Henan Province in China for five years.

Invossa, Korea's first gene therapy drug for knee osteoarthritis developed by the Kolon Group, made a foray into China, the largest market in Asia. Kolon signed a contract to supply 230 billion won (US$207 million) worth of Invossa to Henan Province in China for five years. The deal represents one of the largest export contracts that Korean pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have won from China.

Invossa was launched in November of last year and exceeded 1,000 procedures in May. Since last month, Kolon has signed export contracts with Hong Kong, Macao, Mongolia and Saudi Arabia.

On July 18, Kolon Life Sciences announced that the company entered into a contract with China Life Medical Center, a Chinese precision medical service organization, to supply a total of 230 billion won worth of Invossa to Henan Province. The contract will run five years from the day when the approval of the CFDA of Hainan Province is completed.

Once the approval of the drug was given, China Life will have exclusive rights to local licensing and distribution and marketing of Invossa in Henan Province, China. To ensure stable sales, Kolon Life Science stipulated minimum volume of purchases per year in the contract. For this reason, even if the minimum volume was not ordered beginning in the third year, Kolon will be able to receive about 14.7% of a contract sales price for the gap.

Invossa is a new drug approved as a gene therapy remedy for the first time in Korea in 2017, 19 years after research on the drug started in 1999. The Kolon Group plans to launch large-scale global clinical trials for the launch of Invossa in the US starting this September. The US debut of Invossa will have to wait for three more years.

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