Insulin glargine biosimilar developed by Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals (Basalin®) was approved in China in 2005. After nearly 20 years of long-term marketing, it has benefited many diabetes patients and established a good brand reputation.

Diabetes is a serious, chronic condition that occurs when the body cannot produce enough insulin or cannot effectively use the insulin it does produce (IDF 2021). According to the latest data from Global Picture of IDF Diabetes Atlas (10th edition, 2021), there are currently 537 million adults (20-79 years old) living with diabetes worldwide¹. 

Beijing, China/Duesseldorf, Germany, Aug. 21st, 2023— Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals Europe GmbH, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals (hereinafter referred to as "Gan & Lee", stock code: 603087.SH) submitted the Marketing Authorization Application (hereinafter referred to as "MAA") of Insulin glargine biosimilar to the European Medicines Agency (hereinafter referred to as "EMA").  The EMA has accepted the MAA for review, and with this acceptance, the formal review process will begin.

Before the MAA submission, two randomized, multicenter, phase 3 studies were completed in the EU and US, comparing the proposed biosimilar Gan & Lee Insulin Glargine Injection to the reference product Lantus®*. The two studies were 26 weeks in duration and enrolled subjects with type 1 (n=576) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (n=567), respectively. In the studies, Gan & Lee Insulin Glargine Injection demonstrated /comparable immunogenicity, efficacy, and safety to Lantus®. So far, the main supplier of Insulin glargine injection in Europe is Sanofi. As a primary manufacturer, Sanofi's Insulin glargine product Lantus ® in 2022 sold 2,259 million euros, including 426 million euros in Europe².

Dr. Zifei Yuan, CTO of Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals, said, “After the three insulin products recently submitted in the US FDA, it is another exciting milestone that the MAA submission of Gan & Lee Insulin Glargine biosimilar was positively validated by EMA and entered into scientific evaluation stage. The submission and positive validation results have strengthened our confidence in entering EU market. We will continue to collaborate with our partner Sandoz to make biosimilar insulin glargine injection available to European diabetic patients.”

Diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic health condition that affects how the body turns food into energy. With diabetes, the body doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use it as well as it should. When there isn’t enough insulin or cells stop responding to insulin, too much glucose stays in the bloodstream. Over time, that can cause serious health problems, such as heart disease, vision loss, and kidney disease³.

Insulin Glargine

Insulin glargine is a long-acting insulin analog, also referred to as basal insulin, which is modified to provide a consistent level of plasma insulin over a long duration as it is injected once a day. Due to its prolonged absorption, there is no pronounced peak concentration in plasma insulin. Thus, it has been associated with better glycemic control and has become an important part of the treatment of diabetes (Standards of Medical Care in Diabetes—2023, ADA, https://doi.org/10.2337/dc23-Srev)

Cooperation with Sandoz

In 2018, Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals signed a commercialization and supply agreement with Sandoz. Under the terms of the agreement, Sandoz has the right to commercialize the three Gan & Lee biosimilars upon approval in specific regions, including the United States, Europe, and other key territories. Gan & Lee is responsible for development (incl. clinical research) and supply.

References

1. IDF Diabetes Atlas 10th edition 2021. Available at: https://diabetesatlas.org/atlas/tenth-edition/

2. Sanofi's 2022 financial report

3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Diabetes: what is diabetes.  Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/diabetes.html

About Gan & Lee

Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals has developed the first Chinese domestic biosynthetic human insulin. Currently, we have six core insulin products, including five insulin analog varieties: long-acting glargine injection (Basalin^®), fast-acting lispro injection (Prandilin^™), fast-acting aspart injection (Rapilin^®), mixed protamine zinc lispro injection (25R) (Prandilin^™25), aspart 30 injection (Rapilin^®30), and one human insulin injection - mixed protamine human insulin injection (30R) (Similin^®30). We have two approved medical devices in China, namely reusable insulin injection pen (GanleePen), and disposable pen needle (GanleeFine^®).

In the future, Gan & Lee strives to achieve a comprehensive coverage in the field of diabetes diagnosis and treatment. Moving forward to advance our goal of becoming a world-class pharmaceutical company, we will also take an active part in developing new chemical entities, and work on the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases, cancer, and other therapeutics.

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by words such as “positive opinion,” “recommendation,” “proposed,” “potential,” “can,” “will,” “believe,” “committed,” “investigational,” “portfolio,” “launch,” or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential marketing approvals, new indications or labelling for the investigational or approved biosimilar products described in this press release, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. You should not place undue reliance on these statements.

Such forward-looking statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the investigational or approved products described in this press release will be submitted or approved for sale or for any additional indications or labelling in any market, or at any particular time. Neither can there be any guarantee that, if approved, such biosimilar products will be approved for all indications included in the reference product’s label. Nor can there be any guarantee that such products will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, our expectations regarding such products could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the particular prescribing preferences of physicians and patients; competition in general, including potential approval of additional biosimilar versions of such products; global trends toward health care cost containment, including government, payor and general public pricing and reimbursement pressures; litigation outcomes, including intellectual property disputes or other legal efforts to prevent or limit Gan & Lee from selling its products; general political and economic conditions; safety, quality or manufacturing issues; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems, and other risks and factors. Gan & Lee is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.