SHANGHAI: Amgen’s lung cancer drug tarlatamab has won approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration, its development and commercialisation partner BeOne Medicines said on Friday on WeChat.
The drug is a targeted immunotherapy for adults in the extensive-stage of hard-to-treat small cell lung cancer that has worsened despite chemotherapy.
The U.S. drugmaker sells tarlatamab in its home market under the name Imdelltra. It is part of Amgen’s pipeline of bispecific antibodies designed to attach to a cancer cell and an immune cell, bringing them together so that the body’s immune system can kill the cancer.
Amgen and Hong Kong-listed BeOne did not respond to requests for comment on launch date or pricing for the Chinese market. Some Wall Street analysts have said tarlatamab could represent an annual sales opportunity for Amgen of more than $2 billion.