“This transaction is well-timed, as it coincides with the accelerating growth of our biosimilar revenues driven by the launch of CIMERLI® and near-term launch of YUSIMRY®. With the agreement to acquire Surface and the expected near-term approval of toripalimab, Coherus is positioned to become one of the very few I-O companies with demonstrated commercial expertise, significant product revenues, and unique, competitively positioned R&D programs addressing critical unmet medical needs,” said Denny Lanfear, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Coherus. “Toripalimab has recently demonstrated potentially practice-changing overall survival data in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and its differentiated mechanism of action defines it as a next-generation PD-1. Existing marketed PD-1’s transformed the treatment of cancer over the past decade but are effective in only a minority of patients. Additional overall survival gains must come from novel combinations that more broadly target the cancer immunity cycle. The addition of Surface’s IL-27 and CCR8 antibodies expands our next-generation I-O pipeline beyond checkpoint inhibition to agents targeting immune-suppressive mechanisms of the tumor microenvironment.”
