Fosun Pharma

In March 2022, Fosun Pharma signed a sublicence agreement with MPP to manufacture the generic version of Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 treatment nirmatrelvir. Co-packaged with a low dose of ritonavir, the agreement allowed for the supply of nirmatrelvir in 95 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) comprising approximately 53 percent of the world’s population. Fosun Pharma has also sublicence agreements with MPP on ensitrelvir, and molnupiravir and they recently received approvals from the World Health Organization (WHO) for their version of molnupiravir 200mg formulation (Jul-24) and nirmatrelvir 300mg + ritonavir 400mg copack (Sep-24).

MPP news recently caught up with the Fosun Pharma team to discuss the company’s continuing relationship with MPP and the wider benefits of voluntary licensing.

Please outline the work of Fosun Pharma and its focus as a pharmaceutical company.
Fosun Pharma itself is a large pharmaceutical group in China and were one of the earliest companies to expand abroad in the early 2000s. The majority of Chinese pharmaceutical companies focus on the domestic market, whereas Fosun Pharma has looked elsewhere for some time, beginning with malaria products. Now Fosun Pharma is the leading group in this field, having commenced its business in Africa seventeen years ago, in 2007. Fosun Pharma has a network of over 30 countries in Africa and has decided to further develop its presence in southeast Asia.

One of Fosun Pharma’s Environmental, Social and Governance principles (ESG) is to provide affordable products for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). These principles help encourage global health equity.

Fosun Pharma has been keen to find a way to work with MPP, fully aware that there are new, different areas for the company to expand in its treatment categories beyond malaria. It was felt that working on COVID-19 would be a very good start for Fosun Pharma to explore those kind of opportunities with MPP.

In the last few months Fosun Pharma has also examined the possibility of working together with MPP on some HIV products, but understand now that it was probably a little too late for this to come to fruition. But based on its strategy and pursuit of global equitable access to medicine, the company hopes that in the future it can have further collaboration with MPP. Even with COVID-19 now less of a priority, Fosun Pharma still very much appreciates its experience with MPP and hopes that this is the beginning, not the end for the long-term collaboration between Fosun Pharma and MPP.

What are the benefits of voluntary licensing from Fosun Pharma’s perspective?
Fosun Pharma takes the view that MPP is a very reliable partner and looks forward to working closer with MPP, to improving access to medicines, and developing more innovative drugs in response to global public health events.

The COVID-19 crisis was a very good way to begin the relationship, and as Fosun Pharma is a multinational company from China, with business in the USA, India and Africa, it can perform very well with both elements: business on the one hand, and equitable access to LMICs on the other.

Fosun Pharma approaches the business element in two ways. One way is through MPP, with whom it hopes in the future to be able to expand the number of projects and overall treatment area. So Fosun Pharma is looking for more opportunities, especially with a strong network in Africa and in the southeast Asia region.

On the other hand, it’s also an opportunity because the company is developing some new malaria drugs and perhaps in the future some other products related to global health. Fosun Pharma would like to explore the possibility of signing further agreements with MPP for these other products.

Voluntary licensing helps Fosun Pharma with its ESG targets – which are published annually and which are always first-class – as well its expansion into new markets. Fosun Pharma’s collaboration with MPP will help get more exposure and more business opportunities in countries outside China. This amounts to 30 per cent of its revenue – and that percentage is slowly increasing.

How have Fosun Pharma’s COVID-19 sublicences contributed to supporting its business model and the company strategy?
With the COVID-19 products, Fosun Pharma received prequalification for two products and began the registration in a very limited number of countries. As related above, this began the company’s collaboration with MPP and Fosun Pharma now has several subsidiary manufacturing sites involved in this COVID-19 sublicences. This means it has one more finished product manufacturing site, and one more API site that is WHO-inspected and pre-qualified. Therefore in the future if Fosun Pharma has some more products or new projects, it will have a much higher production capacity and more choices. This is a welcome opportunity.

Do you see a role for MPP and Fosun Pharma working together on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cancer?
Fosun Pharma is looking to work with MPP on NCDs as well as infectious diseases. The company is also especially interested in long-acting injectable formulations.

Can MPP bring anything more to the table for generic manufacturing partners?
Fosun Pharma understands why MPP only selected three manufacturers for the long-acting injectable HIV product cabotegravir, but the company hopes that it can be given more opportunity with this type of product, as they tend to have long patent protection.

As the licences for COVID-19 did not cover China, it is hoped that for the future that if the same kind of pandemic occurs, MPP would consider how to involve manufacturers based in China to benefit the local market. Fosun Pharma understands of course that it does depend a good deal on who the patent holder is. But helping Fosun Pharma build our domestic market and benefit its homeland would be very helpful for all involved.