China-based BeiGene has announced an option, collaboration and license agreement with Novartis Pharma AG to develop, manufacture and commercialize BeiGene’s investigational TIGIT inhibitor ociperlimab in North America, Europe, and Japan.

In addition, the parties entered into an agreement granting BeiGene rights to market, promote and detail five approved Novartis oncology products, TAFINLAR® (dabrafenib), MEKINIST® (trametinib), VOTRIENT® (pazopanib), AFINITOR® (everolimus), and ZYKADIA (ceritinib), across designated regions of China referred to as “broad markets.”

Ociperlimab is an investigational potent TIGIT inhibitor with intact Fc function, believed to be critical for the anti-tumor activities of TIGIT antibodies. An immune checkpoint molecule, ociperlimab is currently being investigated in two global Phase 3 clinical trials, the AdvanTIG-301 and AdvanTIG-302 trials, in combination with tislelizumab in NSCLC. To date, approximately 600 subjects have been enrolled across the ociperlimab development program, which includes six global trials in patients with lung cancers, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and cervical cancer.