ZEJULA® included in Tencent’s Private Insurance
ZEJULA® (niraparib), a potent and highly selective PARP1/2 inhibitor, has been officially launched in mainland China recently by Zai Lab as maintenance therapy for adult patients with recurrent epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer. To improve patient access to this medicine, Zai Lab is joining hands with WeSure, a leading e-insurance platform owned by Tencent, and MediTrust Health, an innovative financing service provider for the healthcare industry, to include ZEJULA® into the reimbursement list of WeSure’s innovative e-insurance ”Yao Shen Bao”.
“Yao Shen Bao” is a private insurance product launched by WeSure, Tai Kang Online and MediTrust Health. This insurance is specially designed to reimburse innovative cancer drugs, some of the which are simultaneously included in the reimbursement list with their commercial launches to accelerate patients’ accessibility to the drugs.
In the prime scheme of “Yao Shen Bao”, insurers only need to pay a minimum monthly premium of RMB 6 yuan to receive reimbursement of listed drugs with a limit of up to RMB 3 millions for as long as three years.
About ZEJULA (niraparib)
ZEJULA (niraparib, ZL-2306) is a potential best-in-class PARP inhibitor for ovarian cancer patients due to its compelling clinical data1, once-daily dosing and pharmacokinetic properties, including its ability to cross the blood brain barrier. As maintenance therapy for recurrent ovarian cancer (the NOVA study), ZEJULA treatment reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 73% in patients with germline BRCA mutations (HR 0.27) and by 55% in patients without germline BRCA mutations (HR 0.45).
Zai Lab also conducted a Phase 1 pharmacokinetic (PK) study of niraparib in Chinese patients with ovarian cancer. This study was published in August 2019 in The Oncologist and demonstrated that the PK profile of niraparib in Chinese patients were comparable to that of patients evaluated in ZEJULA’s global PK study. Zai Lab in-licensed rights to ZEJULA from GSK for Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
The NDA was accepted by the NMPA on December 12, 2018 and granted priority review status on January 29, 2019. Zai Lab has now obtained approvals for marketing ZEJULA in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau for maintenance therapy in patients with platinum-sensitive, recurrent ovarian cancer.
Since the Hong Kong launch of ZEJULA in October 2018, it has rapidly gained market share in the region despite being launched more than two years behind Lynparza®. Based on IQVIA (formerly IMS) data, ZEJULA is now the market leading PARP inhibitor with market share in Hong Kong of 77% by value in the third quarter of 2019.
ZEJULA is also being evaluated in China in pivotal studies as first-line maintenance therapy in small-cell lung cancer.
About Zai Lab
Zai Lab (NASDAQ: ZLAB) is a China and U.S.-based innovative commercial stage biopharmaceutical company focused on bringing transformative medicines for cancer, autoimmune and infectious diseases to patients in China and around the world. Zai Lab’s experienced team has secured partnerships with leading global biopharma companies, generating a broad pipeline of innovative drug candidates targeting the fast-growing segments of China's pharmaceutical market and addressing unmet medical needs. Zai Lab's vision is to become a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company, discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing its partners' and its own products in order to impact human health worldwide.