Inventiva out-licenses NASH candidate in Greater China

Inventiva (Nasdaq: IVA), which is making solid progress with its candidate for the highly challenging non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) indication, saw its shares shoot up more than 25% to 5.06 euros yesterday, after the French biotech announced a lucrative licensing deal for its drug lanifibranor in China.

The firm has entered into a licensing and collaboration agreement with Chia Tai-Tianqing Pharmaceutical (CTTQ), a subsidiary of Sino Biopharm (1177.HK), to develop and commercialize lanifibranor, if approved in NASH and potentially other metabolic diseases, in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Industry analyst GlobalData has forecast that the market for NASH therapies could grow to $25 billion by 2026 across the seven major pharmaceutical markets, as new treatments come online. Currently, there are no approved drugs for the condition in major markets. The one exception is in India, where a Zydus Lifesciences (NSE: ZYDUSLIFE) unit gained clearance for its Lipaglyn (saroglitazar) in 2020.