Kalbe Farma, A Pharmaceutical Company Owned By Boenjamin Setiawan Gets A License For COVID-19 Drugs Worth IDR 15 Trillion

Conglomerate Boenjamin Setiawan (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - A private pharmaceutical company, PT Kalbe Farma Tbk through its subsidiary PT Kalbe Genexine Biologics (KGBio) signed a license agreement with Genexine South Korea. The company codenamed KLBF shares signed a license agreement worth tens of trillions of rupiah.

President Director of Kalbe Genexine Biologics who is also the Director of Kalbe Farma, Sie Djohan said this collaboration was to develop and commercialize the immuno-oncology drug GX-I7 (Efineptakin Alpha), which is a long-acting interleukin-7 that uses the Genexine hyFc technology platform.

The license agreement in total is valued at USD 1.1 billion or approximately IDR 15.4 trillion (exchange rate of IDR 14,000 US dollars), including an upfront payment of USD 27 million or the equivalent of IDR 378 billion. Then, it will be followed by registration and commercialization milestones and a royalty of 10 percent of sales revenue.

The development and commercialization licenses cover the Middle East, Oceania, India, Africa, and all Asian regions except China, Japan, and Korea.

"The GX-I7 drug licensing agreement between KGBio and Genexine is a very strategic agreement for us to build a product portfolio so that it can provide innovative therapeutic products to 655 million people in Southeast Asia through Kalbe's sales and marketing network and continues to be developed in the region of India, Oceania. and the Middle East", said Sie Djohan, quoted from the disclosure of information on the Indonesia Stock Exchange website, Wednesday, March 17.

He added, through this license, the collaboration will be built between KGBio and many global partners. This will certainly take this company owned by Boenjamin Setiawan to the next level, to become the leading biotechnology company in Southeast Asia.

While the CEO of Genexine, Dr. Sung said the license agreement with KGBio proves the GX-I7 product has a very high value.

"Genexine will continue to actively collaborate with global partners to prove that the GX-I7 drug is recognized as an innovative immuno-oncology drug", he said.

In addition to the clinical trial of GX-I7 which is carried out as an immuno-oncology drug, KGBio is also conducting a phase-2 clinical trial for the COVID-19 drug in Indonesia with the hope of reducing the risk of COVID-19 patients to a more severe condition.

Previously, KGBio had received approval for the implementation of a clinical trial (PPUK) from the Food and Drug Supervisory Agency of the Republic of Indonesia (BPOM).

GX-I7 is the only long-acting interleukin-7 under development in the world that can increase the absolute lymphocyte count. This increase in the number of lymphocytes by GX-I7 can prevent the worsening of the condition of COVID-19 patients.

KGBio also plans to do a combination clinical trial of GX-I7 with anti-PD1 HLX10 to increase and expand the value of the overall pipeline.

At the end of January 2021, KGBio also received investment from General Atlantic, a global financial investment company from the US, amounting to USD 55 million as primary capital to KGBIo.

In 2019, KGBio also signed a license agreement with Henlius (HK 2696), a subsidiary of Fosun Pharma, with a value of USD 692 million, and added HLX10 immune checkpoint inhibitor to its portfolio.

Kalbe Genexine Biologics was founded in 2016 as a joint venture between Kalbe Farma and Genexine. Kalbe Group is a company founded by Boenjamin Setiawan in 1966 and has been a major player in the pharmaceutical sector for decades.

Boenjamin Setiawan himself is now the 8th richest person in Indonesia. The 87-year-old man has a wealth of USD 4.1 billion or approximately IDR 57.4 trillion.