Chinese drugmaker Fosun Pharma has made a strategic equity investment in AriBio, further strengthening global development cooperation on the Alzheimer's disease treatment candidate "AR1001."
AriBio said Wednesday it had signed a strategic equity investment agreement worth about 42.5 billion won ($27.5 million) with Fosun Pharma, a Chinese global healthcare company.
Under the agreement, Fosun Pharma will first invest 11.5 billion won ($7.5 million), followed by a second investment of 31 billion won ($20 million). Once the second investment is completed, Fosun Pharma's stake in AriBio is expected to reach about 5%.
The investment is a follow-up to a global exclusive licensing agreement for the Alzheimer's disease treatment candidate "AR1001," worth about 7 trillion won, signed in May.
Once the investment is completed, Fosun Pharma will become AriBio's third-largest shareholder after Solux and Samjin Pharmaceutical. The company explained that the investment represents a long-term strategic partnership that goes beyond a simple financial investment.
The investment also draws attention as it came after patient dosing in AR1001's global Phase 3 clinical trial was completed at 230 clinical institutions across 13 countries. AR1001, being developed with the goal of becoming the world's first oral disease-modifying treatment (DMT) for Alzheimer's disease, has now entered the final stage toward global commercialization. The company explained that through this investment, Fosun Pharma once again confirmed its confidence not only in AR1001's clinical value and commercialization potential, but also in AriBio's growth prospects and corporate value.
With this investment, the two companies plan to further strengthen a "One Team" cooperation system that jointly pursues the entire process of development, approval, production and commercialization. The strategy is also to expand the scope of cooperation beyond AR1001 to follow-on new drug pipelines, immuno-oncology drugs and vaccine platforms, establishing a foundation for sustainable growth in the global bio market.
"This strategic equity investment is the result of Fosun Pharma highly valuing not only AR1001's technological capabilities but also AriBio's future growth potential and corporate value," an AriBio official said. "As strategic partners, the two companies will pursue global commercialization together and do our best to provide new treatment opportunities to patients around the world through the development of innovative new drugs."
