Alvotech, Alvotech & CCHT Biopharmaceutical and Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Agree on an Exclusive Biosimilar Partnership in China

• Through this partnership, a powerhouse has been created in one of the world’s largest biologics markets, designed to improve patient access to high quality biosimilars in China°
• Biosimilar candidates will be manufactured in a new Chinese biologic facility in Changchun

REYKJAVIK, Iceland & CHANGCHUN, China & TAIZHOU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Biopharmaceutical company Alvotech hf. and Alvotech & CCHT Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., which is the China joint venture company of Alvotech hf. and Changchun High & New Technology Industries (Group) Inc., have partnered with Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group, a leading Chinese pharmaceutical company, to form an exclusive strategic partnership for the commercialization of eight biosimilar medicines in China. The initial pipeline contains biosimilar candidates for treatment in the fields of autoimmunity, ophthalmology, and oncology, as well for treating severe immune and inflammatory conditions.

Robert Wessman, founder and chairman of Alvotech, commented, “As our progression continues, we are excited to announce this new partnership with Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in China. Through this commercial relationship, Alvotech and Alvotech & CCHT Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd are gaining an extremely valuable access to Yangtze River Pharmaceutical’s strong brand reputation and market experience in China. This will give patients in China better access to high quality biosimilar medicines and creates a powerhouse in the introduction and adoption of biosimilars in the region.”

Under this distribution and marketing agreement, Alvotech and Alvotech & CCHT Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd will be jointly responsible for the development, registration, and supply of their biosimilars in China, while Yangtze River Pharmaceutical will exclusively commercialize the biosimilar candidates. China is the world’s second largest pharmaceutical market, and this new collaboration follows Alvotech’s recent global partnerships including: Teva Pharmaceuticals in the U.S. market, Stada for key European markets and several others.

Mr. Xu, Jingren, founder and Chairman of Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group, said, “The commercial partnership with Alvotech and Alvotech & CCHT Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is an attempt on international collaboration of biosimilar medicines. Develop, Manufacture and introduce high quality biosimilars is also Yangtze River’s vision. We aim to make full use of our brand advantage and market experience to deliver the biosimilars with extensive clinical needs to the broad China market. This will help us fulfil our purpose of ‘Committed for the better and Dedicated to caring for all.’”

Alvotech and Alvotech & CCHT Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd.’s leading innovative capability and technology allow us to have confidence to provide Chinese patients with safe, effective and affordable biosimilar medicines which improves the lives of patients. We sincerely hope that this partnership will be constructive, complementary and have positive outcomes for all involved,” Mr. Xu Jingren concluded.

The manufacturing of these biosimilar candidates for the Chinese market will be made in a new state-of-the-art biopharmaceutical facility, currently being built in Changchun, China, through the Alvotech & CCHT Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd partnership¹. The manufacturing site will include the latest best in class technology, including disposable single use bioreactors. The first Phase of the facility is expected to be completed in 2021.

Mr. Ma, Ji, chairman of CCHT, and chairman of Alvotech & CCHT Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd, added, “Innovation and sharing are the core value of CCHT, establishing Changchun Alvotech & CCHT Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd with Alvotech is aiming to build a global standard antibody drug producing and manufacturing platform. The cooperation with Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group, a leading company in the industry, is strategic, constructive, and complementary; both parties could give full play to their advantages in exploring China’s biosimilar drug market, so as to improve the availability and accessibility of the drugs and ameliorate people’s life. We will further discuss cooperation with YZR on more levels in the future.”

¹ Footnote: Alvotech & CCHT Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd is a Chinese limited liability Sino-foreign equity joint venture company owned jointly by Alvotech hf and Changchun High & New Technology Industries (Group) Inc.

Notes to Editors

About Alvotech

Alvotech is a multinational biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and manufacture of high quality biosimilars for global markets. We are specialists in biotechnology, seeking to be a global leader in the biosimilar space by delivering high quality, cost-competitive products and services to our partners and to patients worldwide. Our fully integrated approach, with high-quality in-house competencies throughout the value chain, enables the accelerated development of biosimilar products. Alvotech’s shareholder base includes, among others, Aztiq Pharma, led by founder and Chairman Mr. Robert Wessman, Fuji Pharma from Japan, Shinhan from Korea, Baxter Healthcare SA, YAS Holdings, ATHOS (Strüngmann Family Office), CVC Capital Partners and Temasek from Singapore.

Alvotech‘s initial pipeline contains several monoclonal-antibody and fusion-protein biosimilar candidates aimed at treating autoimmunity, oncology and inflammatory conditions to improve quality of life for patients around the world. For more information, please visit our website, www.alvotech.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

About Alvotech & CCHT Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd (CAHT)

CAHT was founded in March 2019 as a joint venture between Alvotech and CCHT, Changchun, China. CAHT is building a state-of-the art biopharmaceutical facility in Changchun Beihu Science Park. The phase I construction will include 8,000L fed-batch and 2,000L perfusion drug substance capacity, PFS and vial auto-filling lines and three automatic packing lines. The facility meets the global GMP compliance requirements including China’s NMPA, US FDA and EMA. CAHT is aimed to bring high quality medicines with affordable price to our patients. In addition to develop our own biologics, we will also provide contract process development, manufacturing services for global clients.

About Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group

Founded in 1971, Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group, headquartered in Taizhou, China, is a large-scale Chinese pharmaceutical company that integrates research, production and distribution. As a leading company in the pharmaceutical industry in China, Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group adheres to the core values of “High quality, Benefits the people, Innovation, and Great good”, implements the “Three Drives” strategy of traditional Chinese medicine, chemical medicine, and biological medicine, and strives to provide the society with high-quality and effective medicines and health services.

We show respect to life, to quality, and to patient health. For this responsibility and dream, we focus on drug-tech development, strengthen R&D and innovation cooperation, and devote ourselves to have diversified product categories, creating value for patients, escorting lives, and striving to become one of the most respected pharmaceutical companies in the world.

For more information, please visit our website, www.yangzijiang.com

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