SINGAPORE: Pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk is seeking as much as US$830 million (S$1.1 billion) in damages in an application to a Singapore court, saying that it was misled by a local biotech firm about the effectiveness of an experimental hypertension drug.
Singapore-based KBP Biosciences and its founder led the Danish maker of blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy to believe they had “developed a new and effective drug to treat hypertension and kidney disease”, according to a ruling the court made public this week.
Novo bought the medicine, called ocedurenone, from closely held KBP Biosciences for as much as US$1.3 billion in late 2023.
Less than a year later, it halted a clinical trial because the treatment was not working and announced an impairment loss of about US$800 million.
Singapore’s International Commercial Court agreed to freeze KBP Biosciences’ assets and those of its founder and executive chairman Huang Zhenhua, according to the ruling.
Huang owns 40 per cent of the company, according to media reports.
Novo is launching legal proceedings against the company in New York, the Singapore court said.
KBP Biosciences “failed to disclose material information” including interim analyses of clinical trial results, the judge said.
Huang “arguably knew and participated in these misrepresentations”.
The judge added that it was arguable “KBP knowingly failed to disclose material information”, including analysis of trial results which showed ocedurenone’s “inefficacy”.
Huang, who hails from Shandong, founded KBP BioSciences in 2011.
The Singapore-headquartered company has offices in China and the United States.
Huang and his wife Cai Jun, who became Singapore citizens, bought a bungalow in Jalan Tupai, behind Four Seasons Park condominium near Orchard Road, for $32.5 million, the Business Times reported in June 2024.
Huang was an executive director and shareholder of Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group.
The company was delisted from the Singapore Exchange in 2009 after a $458 million takeover offer. - The Straits TImes/Agencies
