Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co., Ltd, a leading innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies, announced that the New Drug Application (the “NDA”) for toripalimab (Singapore trade name: LOQTORZI®) in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of adult patients with recurrent, not amenable to surgery or radiotherapy, or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (“NPC”) has been approved by the Singapore Health Sciences Authority (the HSA). Toripalimab has become the first and only approved immuno-oncology treatment for NPC in Singapore.

NPC is a malignant tumor that occurs in the epithelium mucosae of the nasopharynx and is one of the most common types of head and neck cancers. According to GLOBOCAN 2022 statistics, the number of newly diagnosed NPC cases in 2022 exceeded 120,000 worldwide. Toripalimab is the only preferred regimen recommended for the comprehensive treatment of recurrent or metastatic NPC in the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines (Version 1.2025) for head and neck cancers.

The approval is primarily based on the results from JUPITER-02 (NCT03581786), the first international multi-center, double-blind, randomized Phase 3 clinical study in NPC immunotherapy with the largest sample size. JUPITER-02 is also the world’s first Phase 3 clinical study with preset statistical verification (Type I error control) demonstrating a significant overall survival (“OS”) benefit for first-line immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy compared to chemotherapy alone in NPC. JUPITER-02’s results were presented in an oral report during a Plenary Session at the 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting (#LBA2). These results were subsequently featured on the cover of Nature Medicine and published in full in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The results of the study showed that, compared to chemotherapy alone, toripalimab in combination with chemotherapy reduced the risk of disease progression by 48% and the risk of death by 37%. The median progression-free survival (“PFS”) in the toripalimab plus chemotherapy group was prolonged by 13.2 months compared to chemotherapy alone, from 8.2 months to 21.4 months. In addition, patients treated with this combined therapy achieved a higher objective response rate (“ORR”) and longer duration of response (“DoR”), with a complete response (CR) rate of 26.7%, and no new safety signal was identified. Long-term survival follow-up data was presented at ASCO 2024, with a 5-year survival rate of 52%.

Dr. Jianjun ZOU, General Manager and CEO of Junshi Biosciences, said, “Toripalimab’s approval in Singapore represents our formal entry into the Southeast Asian market. Southeast Asia is a region with a high incidence of NPC, and we are proud to introduce this groundbreaking therapy to address unmet medical needs and transform the local treatment landscape. As of now, toripalimab has received marketing authorization in over 35 countries and regions across four continents. We remain committed to our ‘In China, For Global’ strategy, advancing innovative medicines from China to improve healthcare for patients across the globe.”

The NDA was submitted under Project Orbis. Project Orbis, initiated and advocated by the Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”), provides a collaborative mechanism and framework among the FDA and regulatory authorities in other countries and regions, allowing different regulatory authorities to jointly review the applications for registration of oncology drugs. Toripalimab was the first domestic oncology drug to be included in Project Orbis. Previously, the Therapeutic Goods Administration of the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (the “TGA”) approved two New Chemical Entity applications for toripalimab in NPC under Project Orbis.