ALK-Abelló and GenSci partner to expand the AIT market in China

Denmark’s ALK-Abelló (OMX: ALK B) has entered into a partnership agreement with China-based Changchun GeneScience Pharmaceutical (GenSci) to develop and commercialize ALK’s house dust mite (HDM) allergy immunotherapy (AIT) products in Mainland China.

Under the agreement, GenSci is granted exclusive rights to ALK’s injectable Alutard HDM product, skin prick tests, and the Acarizax SLIT-tablet in Mainland China until the end of 2039. GenSci will incur all costs related to marketing and sales and the majority of costs for the remaining clinical development and registration of the products, while ALK will be responsible for production and supply.

GenSci will take over sales and marketing activities of Alutard immediately and add Acarizax to the portfolio upon regulatory approval of the tablet. ALK and GenSci will co-operate to finalize the ongoing clinical development to facilitate the approval of Acarizax for adults and children. Investors’ initial reaction pushed ALK’s shares up 5%, but they levelled back by early afternoon.