Daiichi Sankyo returns Yescarta marketing authorization in Japan to Gilead

Japanese drug major Daiichi Sankyo’s (TYO: 4568) shares edged up nearly 2% to 4,426 yen today, after it announced it was giving up Japanese marketing rights to Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel).

Yescarta is a CAR T-cell therapy for adult patients with large B-cell lymphoma developed by Kite Pharma and licensed to Daichi in 2017. Kite was acquired by Gilead Sciences (Nasdaq: GILD) later in 2017 after the Daiichi Sankyo partnership agreement.

Daiichi Sankyo and Kite have now agreed that the marketing authorization for Yescarta will be transferred to Gilead in 2023. A Kite cell therapy business unit at Gilead Sciences KK will manage the sales and promotion activities of the product in Japan after the Marketing Authorization transfer. Yescarta was approved by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) in January last year. Global sales of Yescarta increased 81% to $317 million in the third quarter of this year.