Chinese biotechnology company Brii Biosciences Limited (HK:2137) announced on Thursday that it has entered into a licence and technology transfer agreement with China-based Joincare Pharmaceutical Group Industry Co Ltd.

Under this agreement Joincare Group will obtain an exclusive licence from Brii Bio for the research, development and commercialisation of BRII-693 in the Greater China region.

Joincare Group will assume full responsibility for the development, regulatory approval and commercialisation of BRII-693 in Greater China. In return, Brii Bio has received an upfront payment and will receive additional development and commercial milestone payments upon certain future milestone events plus tiered royalties on net product sales.

BRII-693 is a novel synthetic lipopeptide in development for the treatment of critically ill patients with multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant (MDR/XDR) gram-negative bacterial infections, particularly those caused by carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumanni (CRAB), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA) and Enterobacterales (CRE).

The company says that in phase 1 studies, BRII-693 demonstrated a favourable safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic profile in healthy non-Chinese and Chinese participants. Brii Bio received Chinese regulatory IND approval for a Phase 1 PK bridging study in China supporting a future Phase 3 registrational trial in patients with hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia/ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia.