Santen Pharmaceutical has signed a licensing agreement with RemeGen for the RC28-E intravitreal injection, a dual-target fusion protein designed to treat retinal diseases.
The agreement, facilitated through Santen's subsidiary in China, grants the company exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and market RC28-E across Hong Kong, Macau, Mainland China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
RemeGen will receive an upfront payment of 250m yuan ($34.8m), milestone payments for development and regulatory achievements totalling up to 520m yuan ($72.3m), and up to 525m yuan ($73.09m) sales milestone payments.
The company will also receive additional net sales-based royalties.
RemeGen CEO Dr Fang Jianmin stated: “Santen brings over 130 years of ophthalmic expertise and a robust global commercial network spanning more than 60 countries and regions.
“As RemeGen independently developed a Category 1 innovative drug, RC28-E is approaching the critical stage of BLA submission.”
RC28-E is a bi-specific fusion protein that targets vascular endothelial growth factor and fibroblast growth factor.
It is currently under clinical development for conditions such as diabetic macular oedema, wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
Recent findings from a Phase II clinical trial of RC28-E for diabetic macular oedema were presented at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology.
Results indicated that the treatment improved best-corrected visual acuity while reducing central subfield thickness, and was well-tolerated by patients.
Santen president and CEO Takeshi Ito stated: “RemeGen has demonstrated outstanding capabilities and innovation in the field of novel drug development.
“As RemeGen’s flagship pipeline in ophthalmology, RC28-E offers differentiated advantages by simultaneously targeting angiogenesis and fibrosis, potentially providing a new therapeutic approach and innovative option for the treatment of fundus diseases.”
