Award Acknowledges Licensing and Development Partnership

Shanghai-based biopharmaceutical company Zai Lab and world-wide oncology business Novocure Ltd, received the Deal of the Year Award at the 9th Annual BayHelix Awards Lunch Banquet held during the annual BioCentury-BayHelix China Healthcare Summit in Shanghai, China in November. The annual award recognises a groundbreaking collaboration, technology transfer, licensing, capital raising, M&A or joint venture that involves a Chinese company in the healthcare sector.

During September 2018, ZaiLab and Novocure announced a strategic collaboration and an exclusive license agreement in the field of oncology by which Zai lab would develop and launch Novocure’s Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) technology, under the brand name Optune®, in Greater China and to collaborate with Novocure in the global development of the product. TTFields is a cancer therapy that uses electric fields tuned to specific frequencies to disrupt cell division, inhibiting tumour growth and causing affected cancer cells to die. The agreement enables Novocure to access the Chinese market and is intended to accelerate clinical trial enrollment across multiple indications in oncology.

“This is a great honour for Zai Lab and highlights the ingenuity of our business development and execution teams to identify a proven, innovative technology that would be both beneficial to patients in China and a synergistic fit with our oncology pipeline and commercial infrastructure,” said Dr. Samantha Du, CEO of Zai Lab.

Bill Doyle, Executive Chairman of Novocure said, “Zai Lab shares our passion to bring innovative treatments to patients in need. I look forward to working with Samantha and the Zai Lab’s world-class team as we strive to make a meaningful difference in the way cancer is treated in Greater China. In addition, their strong interest in partnering to further develop TTFields on a global basis was very important and strategic for us. We look forward to many years of a successful collaboration.”