An­gling Pfiz­er, As­traZeneca jumps in­to com­mer­cial PD-(L)1 fight in Chi­na

Is a Big Phar­ma com­mer­cial show­down brew­ing in Chi­na’s PD-(L)1 mar­ket?

Months af­ter Pfiz­er out­lined a sprawl­ing $200 mil­lion pact with CStone part­ly to mar­ket its ex­per­i­men­tal PD-L1 in Chi­na, As­traZeneca is wad­ing in­to the same wa­ters by las­so­ing cer­tain com­mer­cial rights to tori­pal­imab from Jun­shi Bio­sciences.

No­tably, both have their own check­point drugs. But un­like Pfiz­er’s Baven­cio, As­traZeneca’s Imfinzi is ac­tu­al­ly ap­proved in Chi­na for un­re­sectable non-small cell lung can­cer. And in tori­pal­imab, the British drug­mak­er is scor­ing a more ma­ture drug that earned Chi­na’s first-ever ap­proval for a home­grown PD-1 back in 2018.

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