Everest Medicines, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing transformative pharmaceutical products that address critical unmet medical needs for patients in China and beyond, has announced that its subsidiary EverNov has entered into an exclusive global licensing agreement to develop and commercialize Novartis’ novel FGFR4 (fibroblast growth factor receptor 4) kinase inhibitor, FGF401.

FGF401 is being evaluated in Phase I/II clinical trials across the U.S., Europe and Asia as a potential new treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and other solid tumors positive for FGFR4 and KLB (klotho beta) expression. HCC is the most common form of liver cancer. Fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFRs) play a key role in regulating cell survival and proliferation, and a growing body of evidence suggest they also play a role in cancer progression.