HLB said Monday that its U.S. subsidiary, Elevar Therapeutics, will attend the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2023 in Madrid from Oct. 20 to 24 to discuss partnerships with leading European pharmaceutical companies for the distribution and sale of rivoceranib in Europe.

Eleva will run a large booth during the event and hold discussions with several pharmaceutical companies that have already expressed interest.

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's review of rivoceranib is ongoing, HLB and Eleva intend to prepare for its commercialization as quickly as possible so that the drug can be available for sale immediately after approval.

Starting with the ESMO, HLB will continue preparing for European approval and sales. The company also disclosed that it is discussing with Chian’s Hengrui Medicine to proceed with a marketing authorization application to the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Besides, the company will present the phase 1b/2 colorectal cancer trial results of rivoceranib in combination with Lonsurf (trifluridine/tipiracil) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer in a poster format.

HLB is reviewing indications that can be developed quickly after liver cancer and plans to conduct follow-up clinical trials by comprehensively reviewing clinical results for multiple indications, including colorectal cancer, and especially various rivoceranib trials conducted by Hengrui Medicine.

In collaboration with Hengrui, efforts are also underway to expand rivoceranib, which was already approved in China for the second-line treatment of liver cancer and third-line treatment of gastric cancer, to Southeast Asian countries, including Singapore.

"Rivoceranib is considered to be a highly effective liver cancer treatment. Once it debuts in the global pharmaceutical market, active combination trials with drugs owned by major pharmaceutical companies will begin in earnest,” HLB Chairman Jin Yang-gon said at the Korea Investment Week 2023 on Tuesday last week. "It has six indications in phase 3 clinical trial in China alone, and the potential for additional global trials is immense. The approval as liver cancer drugs will be an inflection point that will overwhelmingly change the value of our company."