Mycovia Pharmaceuticals Inc has recently announced that Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co Ltd has commercially launched Vivjoa* (oteseconazole) in China, making available an innovative oral azole antifungal treatment for recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC). This is expected to boost Jiangsu Hengrui’s infectious diseases portfolio in China and presents a promising treatment option amidst significant prevalence rates, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Mycovia Pharmaceuticals Inc entered into an exclusive agreement with Jiangsu Hengrui in June 2019 to develop and commercialize Mycovia’s investigational drug, otesaconazole, in China for the treatment or prevention of a range of fungal conditions, including RVVC, onychomycosis and invasive fungal infections.

Nelluri Geetha, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “It is estimated that 75% of women will have at least one episode of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), and 40%-45% will have two or more episodes during their lifetime. Vivjoa demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful superiority to fluconazole, the current standard-of-care, in treating women with severe VVC in a Phase III trial. Access to Vivjoa provides health care providers and women suffering with RVVC in China a new treatment option.”

In addition to Vivjoa (oteseconazole), there are four other innovative drugs approved in China for VVC, according to GlobalData’s Pharmaceutical Intelligence Center. These are mostly other azoles and include fluconazole, butoconazole nitrate, itraconazole, and miconazole nitrate.

Geetha concludes: “Vivjoa is Jiangsu Hengrui’s first innovative marketed drug within the infectious disease portfolio. The company also has seven other innovator drugs in its pipeline from Phase I-III for the treatment of various infectious diseases. Notably, the expanded commercial presence of Jiangsu Hengrui in the infectious disease space would further help Vivjoa’s commercialization planning and this in return is expected to boost the market penetration of Vivjoa in China. However, in the near future, the drug will face competition from Jiangsu Hansoh’s Brexafemme (ibrexafungerp citrate), which is in the pre-registration phase for the treatment of RVVC in China.”

*Vivjoa was previously approved by the US FDA as the first treatment for RVVC in 2022.