HLB said Friday that its Chinese partner, Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, has received marketing approval for its Rivoceranib, locally branded as Apatinib, as a second-line treatment for liver cancer from the China National Medical Products Administration.

The company expects Rivoceranib to expand its market share in China with the recent authorization, following the approval as a third-line treatment for gastric cancer in 2014.

Liver cancer is the second most common malignancy in China following lung cancer, and more than half of all liver cancer patients in the world are Chinese.

Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine launched Rivoceranib as a third-line treatment for gastric cancer with the name Aitan in China previously, and it has been receiving health insurance benefits since.

Aitan’s sales steadily increased from about 55 billion won ($50.3 million) in 2015, the first year of launching, to 350 billion in 2019.

HLB is conducting a global phase 3 clinical trial of combination therapy of Rivoceranib and Camrelizumab, an anticancer drug developed by Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, targeting the first-line liver cancer treatment.

The company has almost completed recruiting patients for the clinical studies, and it plans to commercialize Rivoceranib by receiving indications for gastric and liver cancer and adenocystic carcinoma.

Under the accord, HLB will receive royalties as Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine start marketing Rivoceranib. The latter performs phase 3 studies of Rivoceranib for treating breast, non-small cell lung, and ovarian cancer.

“Rivoceranib has won marketing approval in China as a treatment for liver cancer following after stomach cancer, proving its value and expandability as a new anticancer drug,” an official of HLB said. “We will focus on clinical trials to expand indications and do our best to realize direct selling in addition to the royalty received.”