Everest Medicines Acquires Exclusive Greater China and Other Asian Country Rights to VIS-101, a Novel Bifunctional Biologic for Serious Eye Disorders
- Everest Medicines acquired an exclusive license to develop, manufacture, and commercialize VIS-101 in Greater China, Singapore, South Korea, and certain Southeast Asian countries.
- Under the assigned exclusive license, Everest Medicines will make an upfront payment of US$7 million (equivalent to approximately RMB49.7 million) and reimburse up to RMB24.0 million for prior expenses; and pay up to US$89.0 million (equivalent to approximately RMB632.0 million) in potential milestones; plus tied royalties on net sales.
- VIS-101 is a novel bifunctional biologic targeting VEGF-A and ANG-2 that is more potent and could potentially provide more durable treatment benefits than existing treatments for patients with wet age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, and retinal vein occlusion. VIS-101 is anticipated to be Phase 3-ready in 2026.
- By leveraging Everest Medicines' strong clinical development and commercialization platform, both parties will collaborate closely to efficiently advance the clinical development and commercialization of VIS-101 in China and across Asia, accelerating the delivery of this potentially best-in-class ophthalmology innovative therapy to patients.
SHANGHAI, Oct. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Everest Medicines (HKEX 1952.HK, "Everest", or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialization of innovative therapeutics, today announced that it has acquired an exclusive license with Visara, Inc. ("Visara"), a subsidiary of NovaBridge Biosciences (formerly known as I-Mab, and is a company listed on the Nasdaq Global Market trading under the symbol "NBP"), to secure an exclusive license to develop, manufacture and commercialize VIS-101, in Greater China, Singapore, South Korea and certain Southeast Asian countries.
Under the assigned exclusive license, Everest Medicines will make an upfront payment of US$7 million (equivalent to approximately RMB49.7 million) and reimburse up to RMB24.0 million for prior expenses; and pay up to US$89.0 million (equivalent to approximately RMB632.0 million) in potential milestones; plus tied royalties on net sales.
VIS-101 is a novel bifunctional biologic targeting VEGF-A and ANG-2 that is more potent and could potentially provide more durable treatment benefits than existing treatments for patients with wet age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, and retinal vein occlusion. VIS-101 has completed initial safety and dose-escalation studies in both the United State of America and China, and is currently completing a randomized, dose-ranging Phase 2 study in China. VIS-101 is anticipated to be Phase 3-ready in 2026.
Globally, the market size for anti-VEGF ophthalmic drugs reached approximately USD 23 billion in 2024 and is projected to exceed USD 40 billion by 2030. In China alone, the prevalent patient population of AMD and DME exceeds 15 million, with around 600,000 new cases each year, yet only about 500,000 patients currently receive treatment. This indicates vast market potential.
"We are pleased to collaborate with Visara. This partnership brings a highly differentiated and commercially attractive asset to Everest's late-stage product pipeline and marks our entry into ophthalmology, a competitively attractive therapeutic area with significant unmet medical needs," said Rogers Yongqing Luo, Chief Executive Officer of Everest Medicines. "Leveraging Everest's clinical development and commercialization expertise, we look forward to advancing VIS-101, a potential best-in-class bifunctional antibody, towards commercialization in China and across Asia."
"Licensing out Greater China, South Korea and Southeast Asia rights to Everest Medicines is an important step toward streamlining global commercial rights and creating synergy in global clinical development," said Dr. Sean Fu, Chief Executive Officer of NovaBridge Biosciences. "We are excited to work with Everest Medicines team as a strategic partner."
"VIS-101 is anticipated to be second-in-class with best-in-class potential, based on bioengineered, superior target neutralizing capabilities," said Dr. Emmett T. Cunningham, Jr, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Visara. "We at Visara and I-Mab are excited to work with Everest to bring VIS-101, a potentially best-in-class multifunction therapeutic for AMD, DME, and RVO, to patients in China and other Asian regions."
Under its "dual-engine" strategy, Everest Medicines has established a commercialization platform anchored by two blockbuster products targeting high-potential markets and powered by the in-house in vivo CAR-T and mRNA therapeutic cancer vaccine platforms. The Company will continue to focus on key therapeutic areas and new growth markets, with ophthalmology as the next growth driver to strengthen synergy across its core portfolio.
ABOUT VIS-101
VIS-101 is a novel bifunctional biologic targeting VEGF-A and ANG-2 that is more potent and could potentially provide more durable treatment benefits for patients with wet age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, and retinal vein occlusion than first generation treatment. VIS-101 has completed initial safety and dose-escalation studies in both the United State of America and China, and is currently completing a randomized, dose-ranging Phase 2 study in China. VIS-101 is anticipated to be Phase 3-ready in 2026.
About Everest Medicines
Everest Medicines is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing transformative pharmaceutical products and vaccines that address critical unmet medical needs for patients in Asian markets. The management team of Everest Medicines has deep expertise and an extensive track record from both leading global pharmaceutical companies and local Chinese pharmaceutical companies in high-quality discovery, clinical development, regulatory affairs, CMC, business development and operations. Everest Medicines has built a portfolio of potentially global first-in-class or best-in-class molecules in the company's core therapeutic areas of renal diseases, infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders. For more information, please visit its website at www.everestmedicines.com.
ABOUT VISARA
Visara is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing ophthalmic therapeutics for serious eye disorders. It is a subsidiary of NovaBridge Biosciences, which is a company listed on the Nasdaq Global Market trading under the symbol ''NBP''. NovaBridge Biosciences is a global biotechnology platform company committed to accelerating access to innovative medicines. It combines deep business development expertise with agile translational clinical development to identify, accelerate, and advance breakthrough assets. Its differentiated pipeline is led by givastomig, a potential best-in-class, bispecific antibody (Claudin 18.2 x 4-1BB), and VIS-101, a second-in-class, potentially best-in-class bifunctional biologic, targeting VEGF-A and ANG-2.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This news release may make statements that constitute forward-looking statements, including descriptions regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company or its officers with respect to the business operations and financial condition of the Company, which can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, or other factors, some of which are beyond the control of the Company and are unforeseeable. Therefore, the actual results may differ from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors and assumptions, such as future changes and developments in our business, competitive environment, political, economic, legal and social conditions. The Company or any of its affiliates, directors, officers, advisors or representatives has no obligation and does not undertake to revise forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or circumstances after the date of this news release, except as required by law.
source: Everest Medicines