South Korea’s JW Holdings said on Monday it has signed a license and distribution agreement over its three-chamber total parenteral nutrition (PN) product Winuf with China’s Luoxin Pharmaceutical Group, allowing the company’s subsidiary Shandong Luoxin to develop and commercialize the intravenous solution across Greater China.

Under the agreement, JW Holdings will receive $5 million in a non-refundable upfront payment and is eligible to receive up to $34 million in success-based development milestones in addition to a royalty on future sales.

Additional details about their commercial supply were not disclosed. JW Life Science, a wholly owned subsidiary of JW Holdings, will produce and supply Winuf.

Winuf is composed of four lipid components (refined fish oil (20 percent), soybean oil (30 percent), olive oil (25 percent), and MCT (25 percent)), glucose and amino acids, among others. It also contains higher content of refined fish oil than existing products, helping promote the patient`s immunity and recovery, according to the company. Hospitalized patients can develop malnutrition and may require parenteral nutrition therapy when they cannot be fed orally or enterally.

Winuf first launched in Korea in 2013 generated 55.7 billion ($49.4 million) in domestic sales last year. It ecently landed in Europe, marking the first entry of Asian-made PN into the advanced market. Many Korean pharma companies have so far entered American and European pharmaceutical markets with tablets, capsules, ampoules, and vials, but there has been no case in the field of clinical nutrition before JW Group.

According to IQVIA, the three-chamber PN market grew fast in the 2017-2019 period with an annual rate of 9.1 percent worldwide and 25.5 percent in China.

By Chung Ji-sung and Minu Kim

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