HLB "US Subsidiary Eleva Begins Full-Scale Preparation for Rivoceranib Sales at ASCO"

HLB announced on the 5th that its U.S. subsidiary, Elevar, set up a booth at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) 2023 to explain the efficacy and competitiveness of rivoceranib, as well as to present updated results related to the phase 2 study of salivary gland cancer. ASCO, one of the world's largest cancer conferences, has been held in Chicago, USA, since the 2nd (local time).

Elevva booth set up at the ASCO venue.
[Photo by HLB]

At this ASCO, Elevar set up a booth and two conference rooms to introduce the anticancer effects and safety of 'rivoceranib' and 'camrelizumab' to oncologists, and also provided education on the characteristics of the drugs for future prescription considerations. HLB has completed all clinical trials for the combination therapy of the targeted anticancer agent 'rivoceranib' and the immune checkpoint inhibitor 'camrelizumab,' and submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the 16th of last month for rivoceranib as a first-line treatment for liver cancer.

Seho Jung, CEO of Elevar, said, "Many doctors from various countries visited the booth, asking detailed questions considering future prescriptions, including phase 3 clinical data, patient conditions during treatment, and precautions." He added, "Through this event, we confirmed the high interest of the medical community in rivoceranib and received vivid advice and encouragement, which greatly empowered us as we proceed simultaneously with the new drug approval and commercialization processes."

HLB and Elevar, which have established a direct sales strategy in the U.S., have already been preparing for commercialization for several months and recently obtained the first pharmaceutical sales license in New Jersey. To prepare for full-scale sales, they formed an advisory committee composed of renowned U.S. oncologists to discuss trends in liver cancer treatment in the U.S. and various measures to enhance the competitiveness of rivoceranib. These experts will assist in establishing specific sales strategies and various plans to increase market competitiveness for the rivoceranib combination therapy going forward.

Yonghae Han, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of HLB Group, who attended the meeting, said, "We listened to positive evaluations of the clinical results from top authorities in the field of liver cancer, along with valuable advice on points that can differentiate rivoceranib from competing drugs in the future." He added, "We believe this will greatly help in formulating strategies to establish rivoceranib as the best-in-class treatment during the market entry process after approval."

Meanwhile, updated data related to the phase 2 study of salivary gland cancer, which was presented at last year's ASCO, was also disclosed in poster format. In the additional clinical data accumulated over 9 months, a large-scale clinical trial involving 80 patients in the U.S. and Korea showed an objective response rate (ORR) of 52.5%.