|
Hutchmed China Ltd on Monday saw its shares fall after reporting the withdrawal of a cancer medication which it licenses from Ipsen SA. The Shanghai-based pharmaceutical firm licenses Tazverik, or tazemetostat, from Epizyme Inc, a subidiary of Paris-based peer Ipsen, which holds Chinese marketing authorisation for the drug. Ipsen notified Hutchmed that it was ‘voluntarily’ withdrawing the drug from US markets, prompting Hutchmed to recall Tazverik in China, Hong Kong and Macau. It is also discontinuing all active clinical trials of the drug. The decision to withdraw Tazverik follows data from a phase Ib/IIII trial, sponsored by Ipsen, linking the drug to ‘adverse events of secondary hematologic malignancies’. As a result, Ipsen concluded that ‘the risks may outweigh potential benefits for patients within this treatment regimen’, and it is recalling the drug as a treatment for follicular lymphoma and epithelioid sarcoma. Trial patients are no longer being dosed with Tazverik, but are being given standard of care, lenalidomide plus rituximab only. ‘The study will remain open, with no further enrollment, to continue the long-term safety follow-up of all participants,’ Hutchmed noted, Ipsen is working with the US Food and Drug Administration on the commercial recall, while Hutchmed liases with the China National Medical Products Administration, the Hong Kong Department of Health and the Macau Health Bureau. ‘The safety and wellbeing of patients is Hutchmed’s top priority,’ Hutchmed stressed. It said it had ‘immediately placed the product on hold, suspending all sales and shipments, and notified healthcare institutions to cease prescribing it and pharmacies to stop dispensing it.’ The firm added that it is ‘actively cooperating with regulatory authorities to determine the appropriate next steps’, and that its financial guidance is unchanged. In 2025, Tasverik contributed around $2.5 million to Hutchmed’s annual sales, which totalled $548.5 million, down 13% from $630.2 million in 2024. Hutchmed China shares fell 6.5% to 200.14 pence on Monday morning in London. Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
|
