Global law firm Clifford Chance has advised global healthcare company Sanofi on the acquisition of exclusive rights to develop and commercialise aficamten in Greater China from Corxel Pharmaceuticals.

Aficamten is a medication discovered and developed globally by Cytokinetics for the treatment of a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Aficamten received Breakthrough Therapy Designation for the treatment of symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (oHCM) from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and The Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA).

In October 2024, the CDE accepted the New Drug Application for aficamten tablets for the treatment of oHCM for Priority Review.”

Lead partner Yang Yi said, “We are proud to have advised Sanofi on this cross-border transaction. This transaction demonstrates again our ability to work seamlessly between our China and overseas offices to deliver quality legal services for clients in the life sciences sector.”

Yi co-led the matter with New York partner Matthew Warner and counsel Daryl Fairbairn in New York. Counsel Bao Fang in Shanghai and other colleagues in China and other offices also provided their support to this deal.

This acquisition builds on Clifford Chance’s long-standing track record of advising on cross-border healthcare transactions in China, including advising CBC Group and Mubadala on the acquisition of UCB’s mature business (neurology and allergy) in China, Keymed Biosciences Inc.’s out-licensing transaction with Belenos Biosciences and Fosun Kairos on license agreement with Kite Pharma.